Click on the picture above for more photos.
On return from Canada vacation, we headed down to Algemesi, close to Valencia, where our friends Katia and Vicente invited us for the fiesta de la Madre de la Salut (Mary mother of health). This festival last year was declared an UNESCO World Heritage event and we got to experience it in from row seats, literally. On the Friday night when we got there, Katia arranged for us to have seats in the street through which the processions were passing, and because the streets are so narrow, there is no place to stand for tourists, unless you know someone and have reserved seats along their houses.
Just as last year in their fiesta of the bulls (which starts two weeks after this fiesta) we were overwhelmed. The procession started at the city square, main Cathedral and City Hall, where they start with muixerangas, which are pyramids built of humans, who are dressed in colorful costumes. Blue ones are the traditional muixerangas, where previously only men participated (that is so Spanish!) and the green ones are relatively recent alternative muixerangas which developed as a movement to include both men and women. In fact, the green ones are much more advanced as they push the limit of height and risk. In one of the pyramids the next day they had the child on top of the pyramid grab onto a black scarf lowered from the 4th story of a building and the greens on the balcony pulled him all the way up. You can only imagine the crowd at that moment, truly incredible!
So on Friday night we had our seats and experienced the procession with muixerangas and dances. After a nice Spanish dinner we went to the procession at about 10pm and the procession went till about 1:30 in the morning.
The processions start with muixerangas teams walking through the streets and building different kinds of pyramids every block. At times multiple pyramids are built simultaneously, and some have layers of multiple rings of people on top of one another while others are a single stack of people up to 7 or 8 high with no support other than the bottom. Typically a child climbs to the top and when there he or she stands on one foot and with hands horizontally to the sides. And sometimes in the process they fall.... Of the entire thing tumbles... In any which way, it is a spectacle to watch and see...
Then they have special dances where men and women dance with batonettes (which are wooden sticks) and brass cymbals, which they clang against one another in a very specific pattern to their traditional music. The dance is very intense and quite hazardous if your face or arms get out of sequence, because you can get clanged right into your face.... In fact, many men feature blistered and bleeding hands after 3 days of processions... I am sure some refreshments keep the spirits and the flesh high for the duration of the processions.
Women do same dance, though not as violent, but still with enough force and attitude to command the respect of the spectators. Their costumes are blue (men's are red) and the hats are adorned with colorful peacock feathers.
In the midst of the processing dances there are groups of children performing theater acts to raise money for their clubs, special traditional dances with tambourines, and the Valenciano artichoke dance, where kids dance around a pole with ribbons attached to the pole.
Of course, no fiesta in Valencia would be complete without valencianas, which are men and women dressed in traditional Valenciano costumes and dancing a traditional dance with castonettes. Definitely one of my favorite dances, as it is so graceful and Spanish, and full of emotion and feeling that is so common to the Spanish south.
And then the procession features the most special dance of men dressed as medieval white soldiers holding very long tapered sticks. It is a very primal looking dance, maybe resembling a mating call or some very intense and emotional struggle, where at one moment the long sticks get thrown very high into the air in a hope of catching them again. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. I figured it is better not to look up when they do this, as a 2 meter stick falling onto you from 4 stories high cannot be a good thing. But all of us were fine, standing in awe of this spectacle....
And then people processed with candles in their hands... Hundreds of people, mostly women, even thought in the recent years men started to join... People make promises, not unlike our New Year's resolutions, and march to demonstrate their commitment. We tend to eat more turkey and have an extra glass of champagne.
And the grand finale was the Mary herself. Ushered in by several white kings with humongous candles, cities' dignitaries, the Mary float, while not as large as some of the ones we saw in Seville during Easter processions, was still very impressive, being carried by about 20 men and women of the town. Everything goes quiet and it creates an opportunity to make a promise, say a prayer or think about those who we value and who we care about. And then it was over.
The next day we were invited to another home with balcony views of the procession, where we saw the event from a different vantage point and in daylight. I got to see the president of the Comunitat Valenciana, standing at the main entrance of the chapel where Mary stayed overnight. With my massive photo equipment looking like paparazzi I had no trouble getting into the middle of the famous... So took advantage and snapped away...
After the procession we went to the Casino, which is a spectacular restaurant in an old city casino building. Lunch lasted only about 3 hours and included about 5 courses, culminating in a dessert featuring but the Mary herself in chocolate and gold! The girls and Cath and I had an extensive discussion on how to handle the dessert without being sacrilegious: should we start with the baby Jesus' arms, Mary's crown or go for her legs... In the end we worked around the vital parts and no saints were hurt during the lunch in Algemesi.
After lunch we were packed and drove to Cullera, Katia's beach home and spent Saturday afternoon and most of next day on the beach, with about 34 degrees, more Spanish food and fun...
With another wonderful and unforgettable experience under our belt, we returned back on Sunday with anticipation of the children starting school the next day.
Saigon New Year's 2018
Saigon New Year's 2018
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Summer in Canada
On July
10th Cathy and the girls arrived in Victoria after a fabulous flight
that only took 15 hours from Barcelona to Victoria, you cannot do it
faster! Grandma and Grandpa were waiting
with open arms and bouquets of flowers for the girls. The first order of events was to celebrate
Grace’s 9th birthday on July 13th with a bowling party
with our close friends. It was lots of
fun and wonderful for Grace to be with her Canadian friends for the special
occasion. In July we went to our cabin
at Cowichan Lake every weekend and were able to have our dear friends Ale,
Steve, Sebastian, Daniel and Matias up for a day. A highlight for us was going to Chemanius
Theatre with mom and dad to have lunch and see “Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor
Dream Coat”. It was a wonderful
production and we are still singing the songs.
The rest of the month was filled with playdates, dinners with friends,
visits to the park.
On July
30th Anatolijus arrived and we had three great dinners that first
week with friends and then went to Cowichan for the long weekend and had
wonderful, hot weather. The next week
Anatolijus was able to play some golf, we met our good friend Duncan for coffee
who had just arrived from New York and enjoyed a lovely evening with our friends
Kathreen and Bill at our old favorite Canoe Club. We were then off to Vancouver for our
traditional sushi feast with the Jenkins and then we headed to Shuswap lake for
our 2 week family vacation. This year
the weather was absolutely perfect so lots of time was spent boating, swimming
and relaxing. Anatolijus and Dad did a
big job rebuilding the front steps
and Susan and Dad painted the deck and stairs – everything was looking
spiffy! In addition to the fish fry with
the Bassermans and Lyons we also had a visit from our friends Cathy and Paul
Unger who are missionaries in the Solomon Islands but are spending a furlough
year in Salmon Arm. What are the chances
that friends living is Spain and the Solomons could meet in Salmon Arm? Very high apparently, they came with their 5
children on the hottest day so it was great to all be in the water. Anatolijus and I also spent a night away down
in Naramata wine touring, we met our friends Rob and Tara and had a great time! On our way back to Victoria we stopped in at
our friends Sharon and Dan in Abbotsford for lunch and a lovely visit and made
it to the ferry in time to see a spectacular west coast sunset.
We then
had only three days left before returning to Spain and wondering where all the
time had gone. We feel so blessed to be
able to come home to BC to so many friends and family who we love and feel so
connected to. Now we will rely on emails
and skype to stay in touch as we continue our adventure in Spain!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Tale of Two Weekends
A (short) Tale of Two
Weekends and an Update
Weekend One
People are often surprised to learn that Spanish people are
interested in sports other than football (soccer). Currently in Spain, Argentina and Chile many
people are crazy about Padel and clubs and courts are being set up to satisfy
the demand. Padel is a combination of
tennis and racquet ball and the court looks like a small tennis court. The racquets are similar to racquet ball in
that they have short handles, large heads and are thick. One thing that makes Padel particularly fun
is that you can play off the walls so even a winning smash can be retrieved
once it bounces off the wall. Also Padel
is played with two aside so you are working as a team moving from the net back
to the wall covering all the space.
Anatolijus and I learned about Padel as soon as we moved to Spain
because we have a Padel court in our complex.
Santa brought us each a racquet the first Christmas and in the Spring I
was invited to join a friend and start taking lessons. One thing I love about the game is from the
very beginning you can play well enough for it to be fun, and then as you
improve the game can be much more difficult and challenging. Anatolijus also started lessons last fall and
we have enjoyed having friends over to play on the weekend while our children
play in the garden. It is the first time
I have been able to utilize the benefits of meeting people and making friends
through sport.
So when Anatolijus told me his work, HP, were organizing a Padel
tournament for the staff we were first in line to sign up. On June 2nd we arrived and there
were 42 teams (a great turnout of 84 people) and we were divided into ‘Pro” and
“Amateur” divisions, we were in Amateur.
It was a hot day so we got started early and we were pleased to see in
our first few matches that our play was at a competitive level. In fact after 6 matches and being undefeated
we found ourselves in the final! By this
time it was 3pm and 39C, but we had been drinking tons of water and PowerAde
and Grace and Tessa were our devoted cheerleaders who ‘hung’ out for the whole
day supporting us, so we were ready. We
played the best out of nine and if came down to 4 games to 4 and after reaching
deuce and advantage about 8 times I served an ace down the middle and
Anatolijus and I were the winners!!!!!!
I don’t know who was more excited us or the girls, Tessa was shouting
‘We won”! It got even better when we
were presented with a silver cup (Copa) with the date and event inscribed on
it. This was definitely a first for
Anatolijus and I and we were thrilled to have done so well.
Weekend Two
On the first weekend in June we went
back to Cullera to visit our friends who have hosted us a number of
times. This time we were invited for a beach weekend which means sitting
on the beach, swimming, walking a little, eating, sitting and eating some
more. The weather was perfect, 33C with a breeze and the water was so
warm! For the first time since we went to Spain we didn't visit one
castle or cathedral or museum, we just hung out at the beach. The girls
loved playing in the sand and the waves and swimming at the pool and the
two days felt like a 5 day holiday - wonderful.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Grace and Tessa
The past two weeks have been important in Grace and Tessa’s
school life so we wanted to share what they have been up to. The girls attend a semi-private Catholic
school that has a very good reputation and high standards. Their school is run by the Jesuits who have
been providing education in Zaragoza for 450 years!!! To say there is a strong foundation when it
comes to pedagogy would be an understatement.
Our school schedule is quite different from at home, the regular school
day is 9-12:30 then 3:30-5pm. The time
between 12:30-3:30pm includes one hour of extracurricular activities such as
drawing/painting, rhythmic gymnastics, basketball, football, French etc. The second hour they have a hot Spanish lunch
with has a first plate, second plate and dessert always accompanied with bread
and water and the third hour is an extra course the class participates in such
as theatre, computers, English, or study hall.
All of these activities cost extra so families can choose what they can
afford and if they want the full schedule.
I would say 98% of children go 9am-5pm every day; my girls go two full
days a week and come home for lunch the other three days.
This year Grace has been working very hard in Grade 3, she
has an enormous amount of homework and is tested consistently in math,
language, social science, English and Religion.
We are very proud of her as her reading and writing in Spanish have
greatly improved and without any special conditions she is in the top half of
her class. Her teacher Marta has
supported and encouraged Grace every step which has been a great motivation for
her. She really enjoys music class where
she has learned to play the recorder and has learned about the great composers
and can identify their major works.
Religion is also very interesting for her and the curriculum is very
sophisticated. In addition Grace has
just completed the first year of Catechism and next March she will have her
First Communion. To mark the end of the
first year the families were invited to a great service in the church and the
kids demonstrated what they had been learning.
This was followed by an elaborate merienda (5pm snack) in the
cafeteria. Grace also started private
piano lessons in January with a very talented young music student from the
Conservatory. Grace loves Elena and is
progressing very well. Her big event
last week was her theater class’ presentation of 3 songs from the musical
“Grease”. Grace had the role of Marty
and spoke her line in perfect Spanish and then did 2 dance routines. We curled her hair for the part and have included
a picture for you to see.
Tessa, who turned 6 years old in March, is in Infantile
Tercero which is the equivalent to kindergarten. Infantile includes two years of preschool and
then kindergarten, children begin at 3 years old here and many go full day. Tessa has been blessed with an amazing
teacher Marta and a wonderful class of good friends. This is their second year together as the
system here keeps classes and teachers together for 2 years in a row. Tessa is reading in Spanish and like Grace has
been speaking fluently for some time.
She loves school and thus has been very sad that she is graduating to primary
leaving behind her beloved teacher Marta and the security of Infantile which is
set apart from the rest of the school. To commemorate this transition Tessa had her
“Graduation” ceremony last Friday May 25th. It is held in the school theater and all 5
classes of Kindergarten had prepared songs to present. They also sang all together a lovely song
called,”Somos Amigos” (We are friends) and Tessa loved this song so much but it
made her very emotional. To end the
ceremony they each wore a ‘cap’ (made by parents) and received their ‘scroll’
from their teacher. It was a lovely
event and we ended by having a small reception back in their classroom. Anatolijus volunteered to take the pictures
of all the children for our class when they received their scroll and he did a
great job!
The following day Tessa performed in the end of the year
Rhythmic Gymnastics Exhibition which showcases each of the classes. She did very well and is no longer shy or
embarrassed about performing as you can see from the photos. So it
has been a busy time but we are now on ’summer schedule’ which means the girls
finish every day at 1pm and we do not go back, instead we head down to the pool
as it has been 33C consistently for the past week. The girls last day of school is June 19th
and on June 17th our twin nephews, Rhys and Sam, arrive to spend
three weeks with us before the girls and I join them flying back to Canada. So things are going very well with the girls
and we are looking forward to our return to Victoria this summer.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Semana Santa en Sevilla (Holy Week in Seville)
Click on the picture above to see the more photos
They say one of the most authentic experiences in Spain is to participate in the Semana Santa in Seville. The processions go for a full week, day and night, and are world famous attracting millions of tourists annually. This year our family, including Cathy's parents, enjoyed the spectacle and had an unforgettable experience.
Background
In Seville there are 60 Cofradias or brotherhoods that work all year to raise money and prepare for their procession. These Cofradias can have up to 300 people in them and all have very long and rich histories dating back to the 15C. In each procession the main feature is the ‘pasos’ or float that is carried by the costaleros. One float is of Jesus depicting a scene from the Passion Week and the other one is always of Mary. These floats are ancient works of art that have been preserved since the 15, 16 and 17 centuries and the only time they are taken out of the church is for this annual procession. The floats are elaborate and beautiful and extremely heavy. It is important to understand that the processions are acts of penitence so the costaleros truly suffer as they carry the ‘weight’ on their shoulders or back of their necks. Also the many people in the processions walk for hours, some in bare feet, as their penance. The people wear special tunics that are a certain color with special emblems and belts. Also each procession decorates the pasos with particular fresh flowers and candles and the candle bearers carry huge candles that are a specific color for their cofradia. The tunics are very famous because the hats look like the ones the Klu Klux Klan wore. I now know that the KKK took it from these deeply religious processions because the covering of the face was meant to hide people’s identity so their penance was anonymous, the anonymity of the KKK was needed for more sinister reasons.
Our Experience
We arrived on Wednesday evening and after having dinner on the sidewalk we bought a few groceries for our apartments and on the way back we saw our first procession as it was returning to the small church Carmen Doloroso on our street. We had front row seats and could actually touch the float and watched it disappear through the church door. It was then we realized what great accommodations we had as on our streets, Feria and Relator, many of the processions were going to go by and we could watch those from our balconies!
On our first full day we walked to the historic town center to visit Seville Cathedral which is one of the biggest in Europe. It is beautiful complete with a grove of orange trees in the courtyard and yes the smell of oranges blossoms does scent the air. We also saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus which is quite impressive. In addition to seeing the cathedral we also climbed up Giralda Tower for a lovely view of Seville and the river. After lunch we toured Alcazar Castle which is a beautiful example of Muslim architecture, intricate designs with tiles and lovely gardens. We were tired after touring all day and walking back home so we had a simple dinner back at our apartment and looked forward to a good night’s sleep that wasn't to be. At 1:00am La Macarena procession went by after having had the Roman soldiers pass by twice earlier with their drums beating. I didn’t mention that most of the processions are accompanied by a brass band and drummers so you certainly know when they are coming. This long and loud procession went by right under mom and dad’s window so sleeping wasn’t much of an option. The good thing was that at 9:30am the same procession passed by on its way home so Anatolijus and the girls and I brought breakfast over and were able to watch the procession go by from the coveted ‘balcony view’. It was really amazing and to top it off as the float of Mary went by the woman in the apartment beside us threw handfuls of rose petals onto the canopy of the Mary float – it was very moving. (see photos)
Once the procession had passed we walked over to Pilates House and toured it, a former palace of the Governor, it boasts a beautiful garden with bougainvillea covering a whole wall in dramatic purple hues, a Moorish styled inner courtyard, intricate tiled walls and carved designs and decorated wood ceilings. On the walk home as we passed a convent we stopped by to hear and see nuns singing their mass in a small chapel. In the afternoon Anatolijus and I went to see two more processions but both were cancelled due to rain threats. When a procession is cancelled it is a big deal as people have prepared and paid to be a part of it and there is no rescheduling, when it is cancelled the Cofradia has to wait until next year. The reason the threat of rain is taken so seriously is because the figures on the floats were made in the 15 or 1600 hundreds, and are considered to be important works of art and can be damaged by water.
On Saturday we left Sevilla at 6:45am in our rented van and drove to Granada for our 10am tour of the Alhambra. The Alhambra is the most visited site in Spain so being so close we took advantage of the opportunity to see it. The weather was overcast and there was a cold breeze coming off the snow covered Sierra Nevada’s making it a cool 9C. We had a guided tour in English which was interesting and the interiors of the buildings are spectacular with their intricate geometric shapes and designs. The tour was 2.5 hours and it started 1 hour late because it was one of the busiest days of the year to be there. After our tour we drove down to the old city of Granada and had a great lunch at a quirky restaurant where the waitress was like an old friend. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive through hectares of Andalusia olive groves going from Granada to Seville, we got back at 8pm after another full and interesting day.
Easter Sunday Morning
In the early hours of Easter Sunday morning the final Resurrection procession leaves for its journey to the cathedral, and it went by our apartment at 6:00am with a beautiful Mary float aglow with candles and only a few people accompanying. It was great to be able to stand on our balcony with the girls still sleeping and experience it and then go to sleep. We had a nice breakfast at home with mom and dad and then took advantage of still having our rental van and drove to Plaza Espana to see the spectacular tiled benches of each capital city in Spain. The Plaza was redone 2 years ago and is spectacular with bridges over a crescent shaped water way, a lovely building surrounding, a fountain in the center and horse drawn carriages trotting past. Plaza Espana is connected to the beautiful Maria Luiza Park, which is considered to be one of the most charming in Europe and we enjoyed our stroll through the flowers, water features and open green areas. To add to an already full holiday we drove 34 km outside of Seville to a small town called Carmona: it is situated on a rise overlooking the northern Andalusian plain. We had a nice lunch sitting outside in the sunshine then drove back through lovely countryside due to a misreading of our GPS.
On our last night Anatolijus and the girls and I sat in a lovely pedestrian only area with a big playground and we drank cervezitas while the girls played and made some friends. We then had a late dinner and strolled home at 10:30pm. One aspect of Spanish life that we love is the communal experience of living outside with people of all ages gathered together eating, drinking, laughing and sharing. On our final day we walked back to the historic center and went shopping in the famous barrio Santa Cruz. We came away with some lovely ceramics to take home as well as feeling full of new sights, sounds and experiences.
They say one of the most authentic experiences in Spain is to participate in the Semana Santa in Seville. The processions go for a full week, day and night, and are world famous attracting millions of tourists annually. This year our family, including Cathy's parents, enjoyed the spectacle and had an unforgettable experience.
Background
In Seville there are 60 Cofradias or brotherhoods that work all year to raise money and prepare for their procession. These Cofradias can have up to 300 people in them and all have very long and rich histories dating back to the 15C. In each procession the main feature is the ‘pasos’ or float that is carried by the costaleros. One float is of Jesus depicting a scene from the Passion Week and the other one is always of Mary. These floats are ancient works of art that have been preserved since the 15, 16 and 17 centuries and the only time they are taken out of the church is for this annual procession. The floats are elaborate and beautiful and extremely heavy. It is important to understand that the processions are acts of penitence so the costaleros truly suffer as they carry the ‘weight’ on their shoulders or back of their necks. Also the many people in the processions walk for hours, some in bare feet, as their penance. The people wear special tunics that are a certain color with special emblems and belts. Also each procession decorates the pasos with particular fresh flowers and candles and the candle bearers carry huge candles that are a specific color for their cofradia. The tunics are very famous because the hats look like the ones the Klu Klux Klan wore. I now know that the KKK took it from these deeply religious processions because the covering of the face was meant to hide people’s identity so their penance was anonymous, the anonymity of the KKK was needed for more sinister reasons.
Our Experience
We arrived on Wednesday evening and after having dinner on the sidewalk we bought a few groceries for our apartments and on the way back we saw our first procession as it was returning to the small church Carmen Doloroso on our street. We had front row seats and could actually touch the float and watched it disappear through the church door. It was then we realized what great accommodations we had as on our streets, Feria and Relator, many of the processions were going to go by and we could watch those from our balconies!
On our first full day we walked to the historic town center to visit Seville Cathedral which is one of the biggest in Europe. It is beautiful complete with a grove of orange trees in the courtyard and yes the smell of oranges blossoms does scent the air. We also saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus which is quite impressive. In addition to seeing the cathedral we also climbed up Giralda Tower for a lovely view of Seville and the river. After lunch we toured Alcazar Castle which is a beautiful example of Muslim architecture, intricate designs with tiles and lovely gardens. We were tired after touring all day and walking back home so we had a simple dinner back at our apartment and looked forward to a good night’s sleep that wasn't to be. At 1:00am La Macarena procession went by after having had the Roman soldiers pass by twice earlier with their drums beating. I didn’t mention that most of the processions are accompanied by a brass band and drummers so you certainly know when they are coming. This long and loud procession went by right under mom and dad’s window so sleeping wasn’t much of an option. The good thing was that at 9:30am the same procession passed by on its way home so Anatolijus and the girls and I brought breakfast over and were able to watch the procession go by from the coveted ‘balcony view’. It was really amazing and to top it off as the float of Mary went by the woman in the apartment beside us threw handfuls of rose petals onto the canopy of the Mary float – it was very moving. (see photos)
Once the procession had passed we walked over to Pilates House and toured it, a former palace of the Governor, it boasts a beautiful garden with bougainvillea covering a whole wall in dramatic purple hues, a Moorish styled inner courtyard, intricate tiled walls and carved designs and decorated wood ceilings. On the walk home as we passed a convent we stopped by to hear and see nuns singing their mass in a small chapel. In the afternoon Anatolijus and I went to see two more processions but both were cancelled due to rain threats. When a procession is cancelled it is a big deal as people have prepared and paid to be a part of it and there is no rescheduling, when it is cancelled the Cofradia has to wait until next year. The reason the threat of rain is taken so seriously is because the figures on the floats were made in the 15 or 1600 hundreds, and are considered to be important works of art and can be damaged by water.
On Saturday we left Sevilla at 6:45am in our rented van and drove to Granada for our 10am tour of the Alhambra. The Alhambra is the most visited site in Spain so being so close we took advantage of the opportunity to see it. The weather was overcast and there was a cold breeze coming off the snow covered Sierra Nevada’s making it a cool 9C. We had a guided tour in English which was interesting and the interiors of the buildings are spectacular with their intricate geometric shapes and designs. The tour was 2.5 hours and it started 1 hour late because it was one of the busiest days of the year to be there. After our tour we drove down to the old city of Granada and had a great lunch at a quirky restaurant where the waitress was like an old friend. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive through hectares of Andalusia olive groves going from Granada to Seville, we got back at 8pm after another full and interesting day.
Easter Sunday Morning
In the early hours of Easter Sunday morning the final Resurrection procession leaves for its journey to the cathedral, and it went by our apartment at 6:00am with a beautiful Mary float aglow with candles and only a few people accompanying. It was great to be able to stand on our balcony with the girls still sleeping and experience it and then go to sleep. We had a nice breakfast at home with mom and dad and then took advantage of still having our rental van and drove to Plaza Espana to see the spectacular tiled benches of each capital city in Spain. The Plaza was redone 2 years ago and is spectacular with bridges over a crescent shaped water way, a lovely building surrounding, a fountain in the center and horse drawn carriages trotting past. Plaza Espana is connected to the beautiful Maria Luiza Park, which is considered to be one of the most charming in Europe and we enjoyed our stroll through the flowers, water features and open green areas. To add to an already full holiday we drove 34 km outside of Seville to a small town called Carmona: it is situated on a rise overlooking the northern Andalusian plain. We had a nice lunch sitting outside in the sunshine then drove back through lovely countryside due to a misreading of our GPS.
On our last night Anatolijus and the girls and I sat in a lovely pedestrian only area with a big playground and we drank cervezitas while the girls played and made some friends. We then had a late dinner and strolled home at 10:30pm. One aspect of Spanish life that we love is the communal experience of living outside with people of all ages gathered together eating, drinking, laughing and sharing. On our final day we walked back to the historic center and went shopping in the famous barrio Santa Cruz. We came away with some lovely ceramics to take home as well as feeling full of new sights, sounds and experiences.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Fallas in Valencia
Click on picture above to see photos.
Have you ever seen 400 000 dollars burned in a town square in less that 15 minutes? How about 400 000 Euros? Well, if your answer is yes, you must have been to the Fallas, one of the main festivals in Valencia. By a once-again generous sponsorship from our Valencian friends Katia, Vicente and Paula, we were hosted to experience the best fiesta in Valencia - the Fallas (faya - that is how you pronounce it). We just returned from this wonderful fiesta a few weeks ago, and I must say the definition of a fiesta or a party has been changed for me forever....
I don't think I have ever seen so much dedication and effort put into building something so wonderful and detailed like a Falla (a statue made of cardboard and special expandable-foam) only to be mounted, later admired for several days and then burned on March 19th at midnight in about 15 minutes....
It all starts the day after the Fallas, after the final Falla has been burned. People cry. I almost cried. These wonderful satirical depictions of politics, sports, mystical characters all took a whole year to build. So after a short, two day long cry, local people seem to recover and start planning the next years Falla. This consists of the following:
- money, lots of it. The winning Fallas are truly magnificent pieces of art. This Year's first place winning Falla was about 30 meters tall and some 100 meters in circumference.
- sponsors, typically a big and successful local company, that coordinates this project for the year. Normally, the 1st place and 2nd place winners end up winning again, as they keep competing year after year and have largest funds. But there are others that sometimes succeed, especially as crisis introduced some new dynamics...
- then for one year there are Falla artists that work on the concept and start working on the pieces of the overall statue that gets put together before the March 19 next year.
- to make the whole system work, each Falla has its own "society" that has members who pay hundreds of euros to be part of the project, which includes organizing, fundraising, building, partying, etc. Remember, it is a year long project!
- each Falla society elects a girl and a woman to be their Fallera minor and Fallera mayor (main faiera and young faiera) who will officially represent the 2 Fallas each society will build: one for children and one as the main feature.
- Falleras, the girls or women representing the Falla typically come from families with means, as the participation and year long events require a lot of funds: dresses that can cost 6k euros, gold jewelry, family sponsored events and parties, list goes on and on. It has been told that people take out special loans for these events. You can really feel the pride of the people once you take part in this amazing event.
A little intermission: the history of this fiesta goes back to middle ages, where merchants burned their unneeded pieces of scrap in celebration of the equinox and spring cleaning. Later, the celebration evolved, helped by the church, to coincide with st. Joseph the saint. Over the last century the celebrations have become more elaborate and with introduction of polystyrene, the building of massive Fallas has become possible and has become a mass tourist attraction.
In the 18 days preceding the Fallas' main event, the Crema (the burning of the Fallas), on a daily basis there is a mass display of fireworks in the city government square. The display is called Mascleta, and the purpose is to make it as loud as possible. The first one we experienced was from a street beside the main square, as we could not get to square due to the crowds... The sound was so loud, that the ending salvo we could feel in our hair...
During the last days preceding the main event, we witnessed the offrenda, which is the flower offering to the Virgin of the town, who awaits patiently in the main square, as thousands of Falla societies, represented with amazingly dressed Falleras and society members, march for hours through the city to offer flowers to the virgin. The flowers in 24 hours build up an amazing coat of the virgin, which is a glorious site... There are children, youth, mothers and older people all participating in the offrenda march.... There are 365 Fallas participating, multiplied by hundreds of people in each society... So you can do the numbers...
During the last days, there are fireworks in the evening which we went to watch, mascletas every day and, of course, lots of food and wine everywhere, which is a must in any Spanish fiesta.
One night we got back to our home base at our friends at 5 am and the next night at 3 am. We walked so much that at any point sitting for 10 minutes was a real gift.
Main square Mascleta: on the Monday of the Crema we went to the Government square early. About an hour ahead of the main event we were able to grab some tapas at a nearby restaurant, a cerveza and have a short break before the earth shattering event. Then we took our spots and prepared to shock our eardrums. To be honest, after my first behind the corner experience of Mascleta I brought earplugs. I was really worried.... But Katia was having fun and kinda calling me a chicken (tourist) so after looking around and not seeing anyone with earplugs I decided to brave it. Of course, it could have been that everyone was also a tourist.... The show started. It was loud. VERY LOUD. I felt it everywhere. I must say it is something that you must feel once in your lifetime. Or get a friend to throw a flash bang grenade at you at home.... Probably a bit cheaper too.... AWESOME EXPERIENCE!
On the night of the Crema, the burning of the Fallas, we went downtown, checked out the 2 competing light districts, that compete for the best display of lights, and then headed for one of the Fallas to be burned. This Falla I fell in love with. Not sure why, but the faces of these clown statues were kind of sad yet very fitting for the occasion. At about midnight, assisted by about a dozen firefighters, the Falla was prepared for the main event. It started with a bunch of very loud fireworks and then the statue caught on fire... The flames grew and got larger and larger until the heat was unbearable and I thought my camera was going to melt.... We all had to back up to avoid being scorched...
15 minutes later it was over and we headed to the main city square to witness another Mascleta and then the burning of the Falla put on by the city government, which was as impressive as the number one winner this year...
A side note: the city Falla is represented by Fallera mayor and Fallera minor (these are the Queens of the 365 other Falleras), both of which get elected every year and come from families with major connections and money. They act as main MCs of the event and give order to the chief pyrotechnic to start the burning of the main Falla, which is the last one to burn in Valencia, at about 1:30 in the morning.
If you read to the end of this blog you are as tired as we were at the end of the 3 days. Cathy and the kids left mid day Sunday after we visited a great Valenciano zoo with giraffes and elephants, so I stayed to the end of the fiesta. It was an amazing time.
Have you ever seen 400 000 dollars burned in a town square in less that 15 minutes? How about 400 000 Euros? Well, if your answer is yes, you must have been to the Fallas, one of the main festivals in Valencia. By a once-again generous sponsorship from our Valencian friends Katia, Vicente and Paula, we were hosted to experience the best fiesta in Valencia - the Fallas (faya - that is how you pronounce it). We just returned from this wonderful fiesta a few weeks ago, and I must say the definition of a fiesta or a party has been changed for me forever....
I don't think I have ever seen so much dedication and effort put into building something so wonderful and detailed like a Falla (a statue made of cardboard and special expandable-foam) only to be mounted, later admired for several days and then burned on March 19th at midnight in about 15 minutes....
It all starts the day after the Fallas, after the final Falla has been burned. People cry. I almost cried. These wonderful satirical depictions of politics, sports, mystical characters all took a whole year to build. So after a short, two day long cry, local people seem to recover and start planning the next years Falla. This consists of the following:
- money, lots of it. The winning Fallas are truly magnificent pieces of art. This Year's first place winning Falla was about 30 meters tall and some 100 meters in circumference.
- sponsors, typically a big and successful local company, that coordinates this project for the year. Normally, the 1st place and 2nd place winners end up winning again, as they keep competing year after year and have largest funds. But there are others that sometimes succeed, especially as crisis introduced some new dynamics...
- then for one year there are Falla artists that work on the concept and start working on the pieces of the overall statue that gets put together before the March 19 next year.
- to make the whole system work, each Falla has its own "society" that has members who pay hundreds of euros to be part of the project, which includes organizing, fundraising, building, partying, etc. Remember, it is a year long project!
- each Falla society elects a girl and a woman to be their Fallera minor and Fallera mayor (main faiera and young faiera) who will officially represent the 2 Fallas each society will build: one for children and one as the main feature.
- Falleras, the girls or women representing the Falla typically come from families with means, as the participation and year long events require a lot of funds: dresses that can cost 6k euros, gold jewelry, family sponsored events and parties, list goes on and on. It has been told that people take out special loans for these events. You can really feel the pride of the people once you take part in this amazing event.
A little intermission: the history of this fiesta goes back to middle ages, where merchants burned their unneeded pieces of scrap in celebration of the equinox and spring cleaning. Later, the celebration evolved, helped by the church, to coincide with st. Joseph the saint. Over the last century the celebrations have become more elaborate and with introduction of polystyrene, the building of massive Fallas has become possible and has become a mass tourist attraction.
In the 18 days preceding the Fallas' main event, the Crema (the burning of the Fallas), on a daily basis there is a mass display of fireworks in the city government square. The display is called Mascleta, and the purpose is to make it as loud as possible. The first one we experienced was from a street beside the main square, as we could not get to square due to the crowds... The sound was so loud, that the ending salvo we could feel in our hair...
During the last days preceding the main event, we witnessed the offrenda, which is the flower offering to the Virgin of the town, who awaits patiently in the main square, as thousands of Falla societies, represented with amazingly dressed Falleras and society members, march for hours through the city to offer flowers to the virgin. The flowers in 24 hours build up an amazing coat of the virgin, which is a glorious site... There are children, youth, mothers and older people all participating in the offrenda march.... There are 365 Fallas participating, multiplied by hundreds of people in each society... So you can do the numbers...
During the last days, there are fireworks in the evening which we went to watch, mascletas every day and, of course, lots of food and wine everywhere, which is a must in any Spanish fiesta.
One night we got back to our home base at our friends at 5 am and the next night at 3 am. We walked so much that at any point sitting for 10 minutes was a real gift.
Main square Mascleta: on the Monday of the Crema we went to the Government square early. About an hour ahead of the main event we were able to grab some tapas at a nearby restaurant, a cerveza and have a short break before the earth shattering event. Then we took our spots and prepared to shock our eardrums. To be honest, after my first behind the corner experience of Mascleta I brought earplugs. I was really worried.... But Katia was having fun and kinda calling me a chicken (tourist) so after looking around and not seeing anyone with earplugs I decided to brave it. Of course, it could have been that everyone was also a tourist.... The show started. It was loud. VERY LOUD. I felt it everywhere. I must say it is something that you must feel once in your lifetime. Or get a friend to throw a flash bang grenade at you at home.... Probably a bit cheaper too.... AWESOME EXPERIENCE!
On the night of the Crema, the burning of the Fallas, we went downtown, checked out the 2 competing light districts, that compete for the best display of lights, and then headed for one of the Fallas to be burned. This Falla I fell in love with. Not sure why, but the faces of these clown statues were kind of sad yet very fitting for the occasion. At about midnight, assisted by about a dozen firefighters, the Falla was prepared for the main event. It started with a bunch of very loud fireworks and then the statue caught on fire... The flames grew and got larger and larger until the heat was unbearable and I thought my camera was going to melt.... We all had to back up to avoid being scorched...
15 minutes later it was over and we headed to the main city square to witness another Mascleta and then the burning of the Falla put on by the city government, which was as impressive as the number one winner this year...
A side note: the city Falla is represented by Fallera mayor and Fallera minor (these are the Queens of the 365 other Falleras), both of which get elected every year and come from families with major connections and money. They act as main MCs of the event and give order to the chief pyrotechnic to start the burning of the main Falla, which is the last one to burn in Valencia, at about 1:30 in the morning.
If you read to the end of this blog you are as tired as we were at the end of the 3 days. Cathy and the kids left mid day Sunday after we visited a great Valenciano zoo with giraffes and elephants, so I stayed to the end of the fiesta. It was an amazing time.
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