history, culture, and religion

The past few days have been filled with learning about the history and culture of Sevilla and Spain with different visits to Cordoba, Granada, and the Corpus Christi celebration. I've noticed a trend with the different visits in that they almost always contain cathedrals and some kind of history including the Christian, Muslim, and Gothic influences, if not more. Cordoba was beautiful. The mezquite or "The Great Mosque of Cordoba" was incredible. The Roman columns at the entrance to the main part of the city were awesome too and just knowing that these great pieces of architecture had been built so long ago by the Romans was a crazy thought. The intricate detail in everything was jaw-dropping, from the gold coated tiles in the cathedrals to the details on the Roman statues. Everything was so unique and seemed like something I had seen in history books at school or in movies. Granada was a great experience also. We got to tour the Alhmabra and the Generalife. The Alhambra contains the tombs of the Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand who ruled Granada before it fell to the Christians in 1492. We even got to go underground and view the tombs through glass. Everything about the cathedral they were buried in to the actual tomb statues that signified their accomplishments and characterisitics were so beautiful and it actually felt a little creepy learning about all that had happened there and knowing they were buried there. Today is the Corpus Christi Celebration in Sevilla and we got to view the church procession at the large catherdral here in Sevilla. The whole town comes out to view it and there is a grand procession including an army band. The saint that holds what signifies Christ's body in this case, was taken out of the church and into the street for everyone to see.

It is amazing to see the huge impact that religion has on Spain and how it is a part of almost everything here in Sevilla. Living in the United States, we are not as surrounded by religion and it can become easy to forget, which is very unfortunate being that a lot of our history and culture were created with a strong influence from religion. Here in Sevilla there is a huge cathedral down the street from where I live! There is no way I am forgetting about the religion plays in a Spaniard's life.There are also several religious holidays and other constant reminders of the history of Sevilla and the importance of its culture and religion.