Allright. I’ll ask my friends.
Hehehe… you’re right, it may be surprising I don’t know why do they wear such a weird dress, but I can say in my defense that I never asked just because I know the Church never condemned that, so I supposed it’s either a costume or the remains of some kind of liturgical dress (and by that reason, approved by the Church). I know many cases of weird vestments used in celebrations which are just “fosilized” ancient vestments.
Keep in mind that spanish brotherhoods, though they are actually run by laics and - sadly - priests many times tend to care very little about them, they used to have a lot of clerical presence centuries ago, so you can identify many liturgical elements: candles like the ones used in the proccession of entering (dunno if that’s the correct translation) in the Mass, or even deacon’s dalmatics. Some things are not longer used in liturgy, or they are very rarely used, but brotherhoods kept those elements that reminds those old days when processions were a part of a complete liturgical celebration, with priest (or bishop), deacons, and so. Actually we are trying to join liturgy and processions again (though they have never been completely separated. People still feel all this has something to do with the Church), and I think we are having success, though many years of separation make the process slow.
And of course, we should know our traditions better, so we can know why we use certain symbols. I plan to make a web with pictures (I’m good making comic-like drawings) explaining every one of the vestmens, where doest it come from and what is it used for. I think many people will find that helpful.
