Spanish Easter Comes with Pointy Hoods and Wine-Soaked Sweets

Semana Santa in Seville is no ordinary religious tradition: The holy week is a living, breathing spectacle of extraordinary proportions. Each year, the capital of Andalusia is brought to a standstill whilst various 'Brotherhoods' and 'Sisterhoods' parade through the streets, depicting the story of Jesus Christ's last days.

Each dramatic procession is tasked with transporting a religious icon from one of the city's churches to Seville's massive Gothic cathedral in the heart of the city—built on the site of a mosque that dates back to Moorish rule in Spain—and then back again.

The processions consist of marching bands and wobbling, life-sized religious icons being carried around by the broad-shouldered congregation members, all advancing alongside the Nazarenos—solemn, pointy-hooded, robed figures.

The white-robed Nazarenos that are often misunderstood by outsiders, thanks to their Ku Klux Klan-esque outfits. Sevillanos are not oblivious to these unpleasant connotations. They are always keen to point out that the traditional outfits of the Nazarenos have nothing to do with the extremist white supremacist group and are just a symbol of religious penitence. Still, when surrounded by a bunch of these hooded characters, it's almost impossible not to feel a bit like you're on the set of The Birth of a Nation.

Of course, this is Spain, and no tradition here is complete unless it involves food of some kind—and it's not surprising that food plays an important role in Semana Santa, too.

Just as well, really, as there is a distinct lack of Easter eggs on Spanish supermarket shelves.

I spoke to Juan Manzano, a partner in the hugely popular Seville bakery Pan Y Più, and asked him to tell me a bit more about these Semana Santa delicacies. Manzano told me that Sevillanos make two types of pastries to mark the occasion: torrijas and pestiños. Torrijas are slices of bread soaked in milk or wine with honey and spices, and then fried in olive oil. Pestiños are folded pieces of dough, deep-fried in olive oil and glazed with honey or sugar.

Torrijas were traditionally made at Lent, during which there would be a surplus of bread that needed to be used up. The bread would be sliced and then left to soak in milk, sugar, cinnamon, and orange peel. Later, the bread would be fried and then covered in honey and white wine.

Pestiños have a very different origin, having been brought over to Andalusia by the Moorish conquerors. The Moors would eat the calorific pestiños during Ramadan, at the end of the day when they could break their fast. Manzano explained that the best pestiños are made with anise and white wine, and then glazed with honey and sesame seeds.

When I asked who buys these pastries and how popular they are, Manzano exclaimed, "Everybody buys them—it's the tradition! It's an offence to go to somebody's house during Holy Week and not bring some of these pastries."

Like many Sevillanos, Manzano is passionate about Semana Santa. It's a massive extravaganza involving all the senses, he says. "The smell of the incense, the flower blossoms, the candles, all these ancients sculptures on the streets, processioning with elegance … A spectacle for both Catholics and non-Catholics alike."

Between the pointy hoods and the wine-soaked sweets, I am inclined to agree.