In the United States, Easter is one of the most celebrated holidays. When I think of Easter I think of colorfully dyed hard-boiled eggs and the corresponding egg hunts, baskets overflowing with fake grass, little girls in pastel dresses that will only be worn once, big chocolate bunnies, marshmallow peeps, robin egg candies, jelly beans and various other sweets. This time of year also means the official end of winter, spring vacations from school, warmer weather and longer days. Because I grew up in a non-religious family, for me this holiday had nothing to do with the last week of Jesus Christ’s earthly life and his resurrection but was more of a hybrid Christian-Hallmark holiday. I think that it is this way for a lot of families in the United States; even though some stress the religious importance of the holiday it is not publicly presented that way.
Before the Holy Week here in Malaga even began I knew that it would be completely different than anything I had experienced before. After the first few days of processions I can say that I was right. It was a bit of a shock and quite confusing when I found myself squeezed in with a throng of people while a trono of a Virgin led by dozens of nazarenos approached amidst applause, shouts of “guapa” from young people and tears from some elderly women.
I find myself asking, how are these two extremely different experiences celebrations of the same holiday? What does a marshmallow peep have to do with Christ’s resurrection? Spain is officially non-denominational, just like the United States, yet it doesn’t try to disguise the religious roots of this holiday with secular pastel eggs, secular egg-hiding rabbits and secular marshmallow peeps. I guess to be fair, there are some Holy Week treats for sale here in Malaga; I saw candy nazarenos in a shop yesterday and even though I want to be open minded, the image still reminds me too much of the Ku Klux Klan for me to find it appetizing. I think I’ll stick to the chocolate bunnies.
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