I feel like a sardine

So... Semana Santa began on Sunday and will last until Easter Sunday. I am going to do the best I can in explaining what is going on here, but I give you my apologies ahead of time because it is really difficult to explain something so different and so extravagant than anything you have ever seen in your life. here goes...
Sunday was Palm Sunday and the start to Holy Week here in Seville. My roommates and I had to face judgment day from mama about our outfits to make sure we looked presentable. I can't even begin to tell you how many different outfits we tried on until we got her seal of approval. She made all of us wear tights, and all of us had to be in dresses, and then she made us all put on as much jewelery as we could handle and she kept saying pone mas pone mas (put on more) FINALLY we were ready (there are pictures up on the website so you can see how we were all dressed)
We went and met out Spanish friends in the center because they were going to take us around to see all the different pasos (floats) In the center, you can see the cathedral and the avenida de constitucion which is the main drag and man oh man I have never seen so many people in my life. So off we went... here's what happens.
Each church has a confraternity which is basically like their congregation. So they all wear the garb that looks like KKK but its NOT and has nothing at all to do with that. Then there are two pasos for each confraternity, but sometimes three. Usually there is a Jesus paso and a virgin paso, but sometimes there are three, like we saw one that had the last supper, a Jesus, and a virgin. So basically you just go on all these random side streets and go and wait for the paso to pass and its really cool! everyone is really really into it. Sometimes people are weeping and others are cheering. There are bands that follow them as well and play music. I seriously can't even put it all into words. It's one of the coolest experiences I have ever had in my entire life. The pasos seriously do look like they are floating down the street because there are about 20-30 men under these GIANT works of art carrying them on their backs. They are called costaleros. You cant seem them because there is a curtain covering them, but sometimes you can see their feet and they just scoot down the road, step by step under the direction of one man in front who guides them through the streets. Now just imagine this through the narrow streets of Sevilla. Crazy huh!? Oh, and I should mention, each confraternity has different colors so some of the penitents wear all white, some black and white, some even blue and purple. It's hard but once you can distance yourself from the idea of the KKK you can appreciate what these people are doing, but its hard because its been engraved in our heads since we were kids, but I think I'm getting there. But its still a little scary. Oh, and also these people are in the streets for over 12 hours and a law was passed that everyone had to wear shoes, but some of the penitents still go barefoot like in the old days to show their commitment to the church.
The first night we started at 5pm and were out until 5am! its absolutely crazy! of course we had to stop and get some churros around 4. haha my night would not have been complete without them.
I've gone out every day so far with our Spanish friends. Yesterday it was only me and the 4 guys and let me tell you that was a real treat especially because the Bulla (crowd) was the biggest and craziest it had been since it started. We were waiting for the paso and I had all 4 of them around me in a circle while i was in the middle so I wouldn't get lost because people just push and pull their way through the crowds and you get jabbed and jammed all over the place. MAN OH MAN! good thing I'm little and I can fit through small spaces! its nice having locals though because they totally watch out for us and make sure we don't get lost and that we can see and they just live for this. every time a paso passes they always turn to us and say "te gusta??" (do you like??) its so great. they seriously wait all year for this. I taught them the word sardine yesterday because you can only imagine how i felt standing in that crowd with all of them around me. good thing they all smelled good because that could have been BAD news!
today is another day...more pasos and more people. its raining right now so I'm interested to see what will happen...if we'll go out or what, but im hard core so BRING ON THE PASOS!
Please take a look at the new photos I uploaded from Semana Santa- hopefully you'll get a small idea of what its like here.
Oh!! I forgot the coolest part...when the confraternity is passing sometimes they have candy and they give it to the little kids in the street if they sing a song for it so of course we sang the song and we got candies too!! this is great! I think the most important thing that I have realized is that this is a celebration. I thought it was really serious and that you shouldn't look them in the eyes and all this other stuff but it's a celebration.
Please email me if you have questions. I really hope that you can get a small feeling of what I'm experiencing. I hope all is well there. I have to go start to get ready to face mama's judgment day again on our outfits for today. OH!! and tomorrow (holy Thursday) everyone wears black and only black. Its the most serious day of Semana Santa and so its a really huge deal. Good thing I brought my black dress! PHEW!!

BESOS!!! (kisses)