Basia Unleashed

Spain near enough grinds to a frenzied halt during Santa Semana, where on the surface it seems that the Spanish are celebrating their unbridled passion for being theatrically Catholic. But bubbling barely beneath the surface is the desire to reaffirm and give reverence to what it means to be Spanish. A little bit of history: the present day traditions of Holy Week in Sevilla has its origins as early as 1248 when King Fernando III reclaimed Sevilla from the Moors. And thus Spain to Catholicism. The events of March 11th 2004 in Madrid were not lost on the Spanish, whose expulsion of Arab dominance is re-enacted in every city, town and village in former Moorish Spain every year without fail.

Spain is built on passion and blood. Passion for life, for the Madonna, for the family, for love. The blood of martyrs, the blood of Christ and the blood of innocents, whether they be Spanish or those who were victims of Torquemada’s Inquisition or those who fell at the hands of the conquistadors. Blood and passion are the twin pillars of what it means to be Spanish.

When the Madrid bombs killed 191 people on March 11th 2004, the Spanish were the first to realise that history repeats itself. If the jihad is truly against those who seek to crush and destroy Islam, then Spain knows its bloody passionate past had a part to play. On March 12th, eleven and a half million Spaniards took to the streets in united grief and passionate, yet non-violent protest. Within days, José Maria Aznar´s Iraqi-war supporting government was uprooted in the general elections and Spanish troops came home when Zapatero’s new government took office.

Semana Santa in Spain is an unforgettable experience that causes all who see it to reflect on their own culture and the history of humanity. This is a country of frustrations, petty bureaucracies and endless rule breaking. Yet it holds in its palm a race of people intensely emotional and deeply spiritual. The blood of the passion may refer to Christ’s journey to Calvary, but that very same stuff flows in the veins and drives the heart of every Spaniard.