Religion in Spain

Technically, I'm Catholic. I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for 9 years, went to church every Sunday, wore the plaid skirt- the whole deal. However, I decided around the age of 8 that this religion made no sense and I counted down the days until I turned 18 and could decide to stop going to church (this was my mother's rule). I rarely think about Catholicism anymore, but being in Spain puts me in contact with my religion almost daily. One of the cultural differences that is most apparent between the US and Spain is how much religion (specifically Catholicism) is ingrained into the culture. In the US, the separation between church and state leads to a culture in which religion is separate from most aspects of daily life. In Spain, this is not the case. Almost every street and plaza here is named after a saint or other religious figure. Their national holidays correspond with religious holidays, and almost every celebration has a religious connotation. For example, mother's day is linked with a feast day of the Virgin Mary, and father's day takes place on the feast day of St. Joseph. Their largest celebration is Semana Santa (Holy Week). There are churches everywhere you go, and one of the centerpieces of Seville is the Cathedral, the second biggest gothic cathedral in Europe.

Cathedral from the outside

However, a lot of people are not actually practicing Catholics. The majority  of the younger generation does not practice their religion, mostly due to the association Franco and strict Catholicism. The older generation seems more religious, and my host mom is a good example of that. The first day, she asked us if we were Catholic, and when we responded that we were, she declared that we would pray before every meal. The decorations in the house are mostly religious, and I have a picture of the Virgin hanging on my wall (poor Suzy has a rather disturbing picture of Jesus bleeding on the cross). None of this bothers me, and I appreciate it as part of the culture. Last weekend, my host mom took us to her hometown for a celebration. I was not 100% sure what the occasion was, I think some feast day. In her town, 30 minutes outside of Seville, they had decorated the streets with arches and signs. Everyone lined the streets and watched as an altar with a cross was brought into the street, and closely behind that, a large statue of Mary. There were men dressed in white under the altar that she was on, and they would shuffle along, giving the appearance that Mary was floating. When Mary first appeared under the arch, everyone starting singing. After the song, people shouted "Guapa!" and "Viva!" at the Virgin. People were VERY into it. There was a marching band, and everyone started to parade down the street in front of or behind the statue as music played. Then our host mom took us to her sister's house for dinner (most of her siblings still live in town) and we had dinner with her family. Just as we were finishing, fireworks started. We watched the fireworks, and by that time, the procession had looped back around to the street we were on, and we hopped back on the procession train. At some point, everyone stopped and sang and yelled again, and then people started throwing confetti off of the roofs. It was bananas. Afterwards, we waited at a bar with most of the town, and around midnight, the Virgin was brought back into the church. Everyone shouted and clapped, then proceeded to go back to their houses to party until morning. I do not have the stamina to be Spanish. It was an amazing cultural experience, and I'm pretty sure Suzy and I were the only Americans there. There is nothing like this in the US. Sure there are parades and stuff, but no one gets this passionate about it, and there is nothing so overtly religious.

The next day, we went to church with our host mom and her best friend. I expected church to be a very formal affair. The church we went to was a beautiful gothic church built in the early 17th century. However, the mass was what I like to call "Mass Express." From start to finish, the whole deal took 30 minutes. There was no chorus, which is what adds so much time to our masses back home. During communion, they played a pre-recorded song. It was great. I understood what was going on because I know the mass so well in English (shout-out to Claudia for dragging me every Sunday for 18 years). Not very many people were there. Although going to church every Sunday was pretty much expected under Franco, now it is not very common to go to weekly mass.

Sunday mass at Santa Ana in Triana

To continue my week of religious experiences, on Tuesday, my program took us to the Cathedral. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. It was also MASSIVE and I definitely didn't see it all. My favorite part was getting to climb the Giralda. Instead of stairs, they have ramps all the way up so that they could take horses up to the top. The views were incredible. After seeing the ridiculously ornate Cathedral, I totally get where those protestant reformation people were coming from. It feels more like a palace than a church.

Catedral de Sevilla

View of the cathedral from the top of La Giralda

Religion in Spain is a contradiction- a culture deeply intertwined with Catholicism whose people are not practicing Catholics. I'm still trying to figure it all out. Having all of these experiences does not make me want to become more religious, but does make me appreciate the culture impact of Catholicism. It also makes my mother happy to hear about all these religious events. She slipped a rosary into my suitcase before I left, asking me a week later "Did you get my surprise?" I think she still holds out hope for me. Sorry Mom.