the Niqab and i (part 1)

These people creep me out.
Big time.

No reason why they should.

They are Hermandes y Cofridias de Penitencia. They've been part of religious life in Seville for more than 500 years.

It's a Catholic thing.


They still creep the shit out of me.

Why?

For starters, they remind me of the men

with their faces covered

 in these old illustrations.


They worked for the Spanish Inquisition.
They tortured people until they confessed
to whatever.

After confessing, they would be executed, 

often burned alive in public.

It was a Catholic thing too.

Here's another icon of Western Civ...

The executioner was a government
employee who cut off people's
heads with an axe,
for money.

Like the Inquisitors, executioners covered
their faces to keep their identity secret.

In some places, they covered their faces and wore bulky robes.

There were other people who traditionally covered their faces
and wore robes.





We called them "lepers".

*

... and then of course,
there's this guy.

Wait, there's more!
this way to Part 2

*