After almost two decades, Santo Entierro Grande will take place tomorrow, an extraordinary procession that will leave never-before-seen images in the Sevillian brotherhoods in one of the most anticipated events of Holy Week this year.
It is a great procession that takes place on Holy Saturday. On this occasion, the parade will consist of 15 steps from different brotherhoods and that together they will build the story of the passion of Christ.
The reason for this event is to commemorate the 775th anniversary of the return of Christian worship to Seville by King San Fernando. The last edition dates back 19 years, in 2004, when the IV centuries of the Decree of Cardinal Fray Niño de Guevara were commemorated, in which the Sevillian brotherhoods were urged to make the Cathedral a penance station.
This year there will be 15 steps that will participate in the procession, and that will represent the passages of the Prayer in the Garden (Montesión brotherhood), Betrayal (Kiss of Judas brotherhood), Jesus before Caifás (San Gonzalo), Jesus is Whipped (Las Cigarreras), La Burla (El Valle) and La Sentencia (La Macarena).
The passages of Jesus Takes the Cross (La Paz), Camino del Calvario (Passion), Calle de la Amargura (La Amargura), the Third Fall (Esperanza de Triana), Jesus is crucified (La Exaltación), the Conversion of the Good Thief (Montserrat), Expiration (El Cachorro), death (El Calvario) and Descent (La Quinta Angustia).
These fortnight steps will be accompanied by the three that usually make up the procession of the Holy Burial, that of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, popularly known as 'La Canina', which will open the procession, and that of the Reclining Christ and the Mourning, which will close the procession.
Each of the processions will go from their respective temples to the Plaza de la Campana, where the official race begins and the place where the common route will begin, until the exit from the Cathedral, where they will return independently to each of the temples where reside.
This will leave unpublished images for the history of Sevillan Holy Week, since the routes that each of the steps will take will be peculiar and carefully thought out so that they do not hinder the other penance stations that take place on Holy Saturday in Seville. For example, you can see Montesión through the Arco del Postigo, an enclave that is in great demand by the brothers to see processions due to the difficulty of the steps to pass through those narrow streets.
Among the historical moments that will be lived, the Sevillians look forward to the inclusion in the procession of a paso de palio, specifically that of the Virgen de la Amargura with San Juan, as well as the fact that the Cachorro is accompanied by a music band, something that It hasn't happened since 1982.
In Seville's Holy Week everything is measured, since there are thousands of Nazarenes who do penance station every day for routes that pass through different parts of the city, all towards the center where the official race is located.
For the celebration to be a success, it is necessary to limit the hours, routes and number of penitents that will participate in this procession that will take 135 minutes to pass.
In this extraordinary procession there will be a total of 36 Nazarenes who will accompany each of the participating steps: 24 with candles (12 couples), five with banners and four rods, five in the presidency and the prosecutor of the step.
Hotel occupancy in the Seville capital will be close to 90%, according to the employers' association, motivated by the extraordinary nature of this procession, held only ten times throughout its history.
In addition, the absence of processions on Holy Saturday in other Andalusian provincial capitals, such as Malaga or Huelva, will contribute to the city filling up with visitors to enjoy this historic day.
