Holy Week in Spain [pp. 840-854]

HOLY WEEK ZIN SPA. IN.
and aides-de camp not on service to-day, the chaplains of' honor,
monsignores, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, the Patriarch of the
Indies, and the king and queen-her majesty's train borne' as in
the lavatorio, by her mayor domo mayor. Behind the king and
queen come the infantas, their trains borne by their mayor domos; and after them ihe ministers, the lord high steward, the
camareras, damas, chamberlains, and aides-de-camp on service. A
line of halberdiers, with halberds on their shoulders, walk at
each side of the royal party, and their fine band marches behind
playing a requiem.
As no carriages are allowed through the streets on Holy
Thursday, the king's splendid state carriages, the finest in any
European court, are absent from to-day's procession; but the
royal stables, etc., are represented by the coachmen, postilions,
outriders, and grooms, in their gala liveries and powdered wigs,
who, with the master of the horse and the equerries at their
head, close the procession. Six beautifully carved and painted
antique sedan chairs are carried, ostensibly in case any of the
royal party should get tired or ill, but really because they are
objects of art, and add greatly to the beauty of the procession.
The escolta, or royal escort of horse guards, ride behind, with
their long, white-plumed helmets and their brilliant armor gleaming in the sun.
The effect of so many different uniforms and bright corors,
the rich dresses of the ladies, their magnificent diamonds and
other jewels, sparkling and shimmering as the sun's rays touch
them (for the sun is shining up above in the perfectly cloudless
blue sky on this April day as only it can shine in the sunny
south), is wonderfully fine.
As each church is reached, those at the head of the procession wait at the door till their majesties, infantas, and ladies
pass in; then all follow. They go out in the same order; and
so on until the seven churches are visited.
GOOD FRIDAY.
Every Good Friday the king pardons some prisoners condemned to death.
The names of all under sentence are brought to him by the
ministers some days before, when his majesty carefully goes
through their different cases and selects those whose crimes are
least aggravated.
The ceremony of pardoning them takes place in the capilla
publica, during the Mass of the Presanctified, when the king
I894.]
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