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LEARNING SPANISH

An A to Z of the Spanish Semana Santa vocabulary you need to know

Semana Santa or Holy Week is a big deal in Spain. The holiday even comes with its own set of special Spanish words you'll hear over and over again during this time.

Published: 6 April 2023 17:22 CEST
Updated: 9 April 2023 08:54 CEST
An A to Z of the Spanish Semana Santa vocabulary you need to know
The Spanish vocab you need for Semana Santa. Photo: CESAR MANSO / AFP

Brush up on your Spanish and learn the Easter (Pascua) lingo, so you can talk about the religious processions like a local.

A is for Archicofradía

The archicofradía is the oldest cofradía or religious brotherhood in the city. These are the groups who dress up and parade through the streets during Holy Week. 

B is for Buñuelo

Buñuelos are similar to fritters or doughnuts, without holes, and are light and airy fried treats typically eaten during Easter in Spain. 

C is for Capirote

The capirotes are the tall conical hats worn by the penitentes – members of the cofradías. They are in fact worn as a symbol of penance and don’t stand for right-wing extremism.  

The conical hats worn are called capirotes. Photo: CESAR MANSO / AFP
 
 

D is for Dolorosa

The Dolorosa refers to the image of the Virgin Mary or María who is seen as mourning the death of her son, Jesus. She is often carried through the streets on particular days during Semana Santa. 

E is for Escudo

Escudo means shield or coat of arms, and each of the brotherhoods that take part in the Semana Santa celebrations will have their own, which identifies them. 

F is for Fraternidad

The fraternidades are the Catholic brotherhoods that parade through the streets during Holy Week, also known as cofradías. 

READ ALSO: The essential guide to Easter in Spain in 2023

G is for Gloria

The Sábado de Gloria or Saturday of Glory is the day just before Easter Sunday. This year it falls on April 8th. This day is also sometimes referred to as Sábado Santo or Holy Saturday. 

H is for Hermano Mayor

The Hermano Mayor or Big Brother is the senior member of each brotherhood or cofradía and is in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly during the processions. 

The Hermano Mayor is in charge of the brotherhood. Photo: CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP

I is for Incensario

Incense is a common smell during Holy Week in Spain and the incensario or censer is a small ornate silver or gold chamber which is swung around during the religious processions emitting incense from the small holes in its body. 

J is for Jueves Santo

Holy Thursday or Jueves Santo is one of the most important days during Semana Santa. It is on this day that many of the most impressive processions take place. 

READ ALSO: What are the best cities in Spain to see the Semana Santa processions?

K is for Kilómetro 

Kilómetro or kilometre may not seem like a typical Easter word, but during Semana Santa the costaleros who are the ones who carry the heavy religious floats through the city streets have to walk many kilometres. La Madrugá is one of the most important parades during Seville’s famous Holy Week, which takes place in the early morning between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The brotherhood that walks the furthest during this night is La Macarena who carry their floats 5.5 kilometres during a total of 14 hours. 

L is for Levantá

The Levantá is the moment when each religious float is raised, ready to continue its journey through the city streets. The leader will shout “levantá” and all the costaleros will lift the giant statues at once. 

M is for Monas de Pascua

These Easter cakes are typical in the regions of Catalonia and Valencia. They are typically sweet bread-like shapes topped with candied fruit and hard-boiled eggs. Some supermarkets have even taken them one step further, making them more like traditional chocolate sponge cakes topped with chocolate eggs, feathers and chicks. 

Try some monas de Pascua this Easter. Photo: Juan Emilio Prades Bel / WikiCommons

N is for Nazarenos

Nazarenos refer to the individual members of each brotherhood that parade through the streets carrying candles and dressed in tunics and capirotes (conical hoods).

O is for Oro

Oro means gold and you’ll certainly see lots of it around at Easter in Spain, particularly on the religious floats and statues. 

P is for Paso

The pasos are the official names for the religious floats that are carried through the city streets during the Easter processions. They typically depict scenes from the Passion of Christ of both Jesus and the Virgin Mary, adorned with flowers and candles. 

A float depicting ‘Jesus de la Victoria’ in Seville. Photo: CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP

R is for Resurrección

Easter Sunday is often referred to as the Domingo de Resurrección or Resurrection, the day when it is said that Jesus rose from the dead. Up until this day the processions are typically solemn, but they take on a jubilant nature on and after Domingo de Resurrección.  

S is for Saeta

Saetas are religious songs that are sung mainly in Andalusia, during poignant parts of the Easter processions. Locals typically sing their devotion to the religious images down from balconies. They’re best to see in Seville.  

T is for Torrijas

Torrijas are a favourite Easter treat in Spain. A Spanish version of French toast, they are thick pieces of bread soaked in milk and egg, before being deep fried and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. 

V is for Velas

Velas are candles and you’ll certainly see a lot of them during the Semana Santa processions in Spain. Look out for the children who collect the dripping wax from the candles to see who can make the biggest wax ball by the end of the week. 

Candles are an atmospheric part of the religious Easter processions in Spain. Photo: CESAR MANSO / AFP

X is for Xocolata

OK, so we’re cheating a bit here as this is how you spell chocolate in Catalan, not in Spanish. Surprisingly chocolate is not a big Easter treat in Spain, however, the Catalans nowadays do go in for creating elaborate chocolate scenes for children. 

Y is for Yema

Yema means yolk in Spanish, and many of the sweets enjoyed at Easter in Spain contain yolks or eggs. Discover some of the mouthwatering dishes to try at Easter in Spain here. 

Z is for Zamora

The small city of Zamora, just north of Salamanca has been holding Holy Week celebrations since the 13th century. Processions take place during both the day and the night here, with daytime ones bringing lots of colour and music and nighttime ones solemn silence. Music is very important in the festival here with lots of choir singing and Gregorian chants.

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LEARNING SPANISH

Do people in Spain actually use the formal ‘usted’ form anymore?

It was once common in Spain, but nowadays the formal 'usted' (you) form is rarely used besides in some pretty specific situations. So why is the more informal 'tú' form becoming ever more dominant among Spaniards?

Published: 14 May 2024 11:12 CEST

If you live in Spain or spend time here, you’ve probably heard the word tú (you) a fair bit. It’s one of the very first words you learn when learning Spanish, and pretty crucial (obviously).

But you may have also occasionally heard Spanish speakers using the word usted (also meaning you) from time to time too.

It’s far more likely that you hear tú in Spain, but perhaps if you’ve heard a respectful younger Spaniard talking to an elderly neighbour, or their boss on the phone, or even watched something like a political debate or interview on TV, you probably heard usted used.

Similarly, if you have noticed usted being used while out and about in Spain, it could well have been from the large Latino population in Spain, and it’s likely that you heard Colombians, Venezuelans or other Latinos saying it.

READ ALSO: Why Spain has allowed regional languages to be spoken in Congress

Though they do sometimes use it, the use of usted among Spaniards is slightly different, much rarer, and saved for select circumstances.

In fact, it’s becoming so rare in Spain that some feel its usage is dying out completely, if it hasn’t already.

So, what’s going on here?

Usted vs tú

Firstly, let’s start with a definition. According to the Real Academia Española (RAE) usted is a:

“Form which, in the nominative, in the vocative or preceded by a preposition, designates the person addressed by the speaker or writer… [used] generally as a polite, respectful or distancing address.”

Eg) disculpe, ¿sabe usted dónde está el hospital? (excuse me, do you know where the hospital is?)

In understanding the usted form specifically in Castilian Spanish – Spanish spoken in parts of Latin America it can be slightly or very different, depending where you are – that last part of the definition is key: “generally as a polite, respectful or distancing address.”

It’s worth noting that with usted the verbs are conjugated as if they were third-person singular (el as in he or ella as in she), so it’s usted sabe instead of tú sabes. 

Usted is a form used to show respect or seniority: that you understand there’s a hierarchy (in which usted is at the top, so for example when speaking to your boss or someone interviewing you for a job), but also occasionally to mark social distance between two people (because tú could be considered overly friendly in certain situations) and then, finally, it’s also used more generally to show respect in terms of seniority, like when speaking to an elderly person.

Tú vs usted in Spain

Respectfulness is the key word here. In short, if you hear usted used in Spain, it’s probably for a reason.

In Spain, usted is generally only ever used with authority figures, the elderly and in some formal and/or professional settings, but many Spaniards will just skip over it and use the tú form. Tú can be used with everyone else: your friends, partners, neighbours (around your age or younger), siblings, co-workers, kids, and other people you don’t know but are roughly your age or younger.

In fact, in some cases people might actually be offended if you use the usted form because you could be implying that they’re old, a mistake or social faux pas that is somewhat similar to calling a woman señora and then being quickly corrected (usually with a scornful look) that is should be señorita.

In such cases, they may say trátame de tú (treat me as ‘less formal’ you) or me puedes tutear. 

The verb tutear actually means to speak to someone using the more informal tú form. 

The only part of Spain where the plural form of usted – ustedes – is used all the time is the Canary Islands and some parts of southern Andalusia, where locals prefer this form instead of the standard Castillian vosotros (you in plural). That doesn’t mean that they say usted instead of tú in the singular form, this exception only applies to the plural.

Do people actually use the formal usted form anymore in Spain?

Less and less. It’s dying out in Spain, has been for a while, and is now reserved for those rare occasions outlined above. It’s thought by linguistic experts that it began dying out in the 1970s and 1980s.

The use of usted in Castillian Spanish is now very rarely used in casual conversation. In many cases can only be heard in very formal or ceremonial settings, such as in judiciary, the army, or in certain academic culture contexts or events.

In day to day life, usted only really shows up (besides the examples given above) in advertising, something that generally needs to reflect cultural attitudes and keep up with modern day parlance, so now only really uses the usted form in some specific campaigns for financial services or medical products. As such, depending on the context and age of the people involved, you could also hear usted in spoken Spanish in banks and doctors or hospitals.

An article in Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia entitled ‘Usted is dying’ published back in 2012 looked into the disappearance of the formal form in detail. The fact it was published over a decade ago means that, if anything, the trends it discusses have deepened since then and usted is even lesser used than it was then.

“The use of usted has been reserved for very formal campaigns where a kind of protocol respect for the interlocutor is maintained,” Josep Maria Ferrara, founder and creative director of the Paulov advertising agency, told La Vanguardia.

But this was not the case twenty or thirty years ago. A study on the use of tú and usted in advertising at the end of the 1980s showed that the usted form was used for the most part and that only 11 percent of the advertisements analysed used the tú form.

Changing world, changing language?

So, what changed? Secundino Valladares, professor of Anthropology at the Madrid’s Complutense University, says that Spaniards have embraced tú to such an extent “that the phenomenon is now unstoppable; young people, educated in ‘tuteo’ [the use of the tú form] are sweeping to victory with the tú, and as society is dominated by the value of youth… many older people feel flattered if you tú them,” he said.

In Spain in the 1940s and 1950s the usted form was still well established in many parent-child relationships, and in teacher-student relationships until well into the 1970s. But a changing world and progressive, more egalitarian political ideas seems to be partly responsible for the change. Of course, in Spain, this linguistic shift may have something to do with the changing power and interpersonal dynamics of Spanish society as it transitioned from dictatorship to democracy around this time.

Headline by Spanish radio station Cope reads “Speaking to the teacher at school with the usted form must be brought back”.

Sociologist Antonio López pointed to this trend: “The tendency towards a more egalitarian society, towards the loss of hierarchical distances in social relations, means that it does not seem right to establish prior distances and that is why tú is used instead of usted, which for many denotes distance.”

In that sense, the decline in the formal usted form can be understood both in terms of the laid back nature of Castilian Spanish compared with countries in Latin America, but also in terms of language reflecting social change, similarly to how today, in modern day Spain, there is debate over the use of inclusive language and the dominance of the masculine form in Spanish grammar.

READ ALSO: What is Spain’s inclusive language debate and why is it so controversial?

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