Paso

A Paso [ Spanish > "Pace" or "Step"] is an elaborate float made for religious parades. They are carried by porters on staves, like a litter or sedan chair, and are usually followed or escorted by a band. Some have long skirts that cover the bearers entirely, giving the impression that the statue is floating on its own power.

The porters are called "costaleros" and their leader is called a "capataz" ("Foreman" or "Head Man"). The "capataz" sets the "chicotá", the period of time between a paso being lifted and set down again; the "costaleros" cannot pick up or set down the "paso" except by his leave. This is signalled by the "llamador" ("crier"), a knocker on the front of the float.

During "Semana Santa" ("Holy Week", the week preceding Easter Sunday) the custom is to make "pasos" adorned with large wooden statues of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints and biblical personalities from the Passion.

Other meanings

*The Spanish playwright Lope de Rueda named "pasos" his short comedic sketches that filled the time between the acts of a play. Miguel de Cervantes wrote similar sketches, but called them entremeses ("interludes").
*"Paso" means also a passage, as in El Paso
*Alfonso Paso was a Spanish playwright

References

* [http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/travel/26essay.html Seville's Holy Week Rituals Draw In an Outsider] (New York Times: March 26th, 2006)
* " [http://spainforvisitors.com/archive/features/semanasanta.htm Passions snd Pasos] " (http://spainforvisitors.com)