Very late friday night I heard the loudest BOOM I have ever heard in my life. I had no idea what it was. When I woke up the next morning more BOOMs happened, scaring us half to death cause we thought they were gun shots. Our familia here told us that it was cannons that were marking the start of the day of the processional. Of course, we had absolutely no idea what that meant, but we went with it anyway haha. We thought the loud noises were over...we were very wrong cause at 7:30pm they happened again, marking the beginning of the processional.
As some of you may know, Sevilla played Real Madrid last night in Sevilla and, as much as we wanted to attend, we couldn't afford a ticket, so we decided to watch the game in a bar. The only thing was, we weren't allowed to cheer for Madrid because we were in Sevilla! On our way to find a bar with a TV (a rare find here in Sevilla) we ran into the processional!
The Processional: 2 Marching bands, one in the front, one in the back, kids carrying giant candles, men from the church, a big extravagantly decorated float carried by about 30 men with the Virgin Mary sitting on top, and hundred of other people carrying silver poles leading the Virgin into every church in Triana, with the entire city gathering to watch it. It was beautiful!
The game started at 10. At the bar there were many old men and 2 cops, watching the game and then there were about 8 college kids. It was crammed!! The atmosphere was great, and we had a really good time :) And much to our surprise, SEVILLA WON! Everyone was extremely surprised! It was my first european soccer experience, and it was a great one!
We walked home a little after midnight, and the processional was still going! They were still carrying Mary through the city and the bands were still playing...loud. Dani and I went home to go to bed and just as we were about to fall asleep at 1, BOOM. The cannons went off again. All I could do was laugh because I got so scared!! Finally the processional was over and there was quiet :)
I thought the processional was very beautiful, and I am so glad I got to see it, but I couldn't believe how loud the cannons were!!! Everything here that has to do with the Catholic church is so beautiful! The cathedrals, the decorations, even the floats they put the Virgin Mary on.
That was the most eventful saturday I have had here yet. It was so cool to see the culture in terms of the religion here and also through their love for football!! We even made friends with the people at the bar so they told us to come back for the Betis and Barcelona games :)
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