Palm Sunday, the day celebrated as the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, found us in Ronda, in southern Spain, witnessing one of the procesiónes of Semana Santa, (Holy Week). It was quite an impressive experience to watch about half of this town's population of 40K turn up for the procession through town. You can see in the photos pictures of one of the two floats which was carried on the shoulders of the young men of the town, Jesus on the donkey. The other float was a float with Mary. Included in the parade, were lots of kids dressed up as "Nazarenes" (people from Jesus' home town), and many of the adult Nazarenes wore the traditional capuchone (hood). When I asked the old guy next to me what is the meaning of the capuchone, he just said "they've been wearing those for 500 years". Fortunately, Wikipedia (see link) provided the answer stating that they are a symbol of penitence (sorrow for sins). You may notice that these hoods bear a strong resemblence to those worn by a particular southern organization in the U.S; that is no coincidence. The KKK based their outfits on the Nazarene outfit. By odd coincidence, as I am writing this in a wi-fi cafe in Granada, there is a Santa Martes (Holy Tuesday) procesión going by just outside the window. Better go put on my capuchone.
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