Alright, I´ll admit it - I went to Malaga, a city I know well, instead of Seville, which I have yet to visit, because I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Antonio Banderas. All of the English-language newspapers carried photos of him and mentioned how he takes part in the processions. One of the papers stated,"Banderas is a keen participator in Malaga´s Easter week processions which are considered on a par with those of Seville." This is a rather strange comment; not the "Banderas is keen" part but the "on a par with those of Seville" part because, in fact, Malaga holds the most elaborate in the world!
I took about 300 pictures of which only a third were clear enough to make out the Nazarenos dressed in the tall, pointy hats or the groups of 200-plus men bearing up to five tons of trono. Not one of the photos was of Antonio.
In Rachel Stewart´s piece `My Holy Week Experience´she wrote,"After a rather long wait and plenty of speculation as to which person draped in the cream robes of the brotherhood [Fusionaldes] could be Banderas, the `nazarenos´ came into sight guideing the rest of the group, accompanied by the elated squeal of a friend who was adamant that she could recognise him from his eyes and expensive-looking shoes."
Normally, I would have been freaked out by the crowd but this time I felt a part of it. When I excused my way through the throng and a man asked me, in Spanish of course, where I thought I was going in this crush, I simply smiled and pointed over his head into the ocean of people behind him. Yes, I was actually going to dive into the sea of bodies rather than run screaming from them.
I felt very fortunate to have been able to witness this important tradition.
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