Paso

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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 ("Captain" or "Head Man"). The capataz sets the chicota, 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 or other saints.

[edit] Other meanings

The Spanish playwright Lope de Rueda named pasos his short comedic sketches that filled the time between the acts of a play.
Paso means also a passage, as in El Paso
Alfonso Paso was a Spanish playwright