Spain in Fiesta!

CARNAVAL

A little while back my good friend Matt came out to visit. We go way back. Well to CSU at least and what better reunion with an old college buddy than one of the big traditional Spanish party. This rational is what got us right in the middle of Carnaval 2010. We didn’t settle for a Carnaval festival which can be found, parades, costumes and all, throughout over Spain. We went to THE Carnaval down on the coast of southern Spain. Cadiz, labeled as one of the oldest cities in Western Europe. Cadiz was a charming city. Right on the beach, filled with castles, churches, old roman walls and hints of its history hidden down small side streets and twisting alleys, but we weren’t there for the historic charm.

Ingredients:

1. Chirigotes- Spanish groups that sing satirical songs. Despite our less than perfect, or nonexistent, knowledge of the Spanish language we saw some of the chirigote performances under a circus tent.

2. Timing- Overly eager on our first night in Cadiz we headed out only slightly after the supposed start of the planned activities. We found the roads practically deserted and not a costume in sight. After getting lost we suddenly came around a corner to find a plaza filled with costumed people packed in shoulder to shoulder. Lesson learned. The next night, the night of the big party we headed out much later, meeting up with a group of hippies from Cordoba. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I don’t have much of the Spanish blood in me. After asking a Storm Trooper for the rest of his pizza around 1 I decided to walk home. Matt, much more a Spaniard than myself stayed out as the crowds grew more dense, the streets more littered with…everything. I awoke the next morning around 10 only to hear the party still going.

3. Costumes- The people in Cadiz proved to be far more creative than your average American and they have mastered dressing up in groups. We spotted Pac Man hanging out with his ghosts twice, the whole cast of Mario Bros, bull fighters complete with beer-cooler bull, police, pigs, pirate, hippies, and so many more colorful costumes.

The best part about Carnaval was the duel nature of it. Daylight hours were filled with children frolicking down the streets as princesses and super heroes (it’s not as dark as our Halloween), the streets are frequented by parades, and littered with confetti, then as the day turns to night it becomes the party for the adults. The people you see casual walking down the streets in ridiculous clothing gradually become older.

SEMANA SANTA

Semana Santa, or Holy week is Carnaval’s somber cousin. By far one of the most unique holidays that I have seen, Semana Santa is a mixture of traditions. Semana Santa is the Spanish Easter, though while we only focus on Easter Sunday, they celebrate every day between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, not to mention we get 2 weeks off of school. Semana Santa in Spain is focused around processions, when people dress up in colorful outfits, a possible inspiration for the KKK uniform, and walk down the streets while the costaleros or "sack men" carry large, heavy, historic statues, weighing up to 5 metric tons, on their heads. For more information Wikipedia is always there for you.

Having my two weeks of vacation from school I met up with a good friend in Madrid and we headed down to Sevilla, known for having some of the best Semana Santa processions in the world. But the processions happen in many parts of Spain. By far my favorite procession was the Palm Sunday procession I got to see before leaving Benavente. As I watched Jesus on his donkey being slowly carried up the hill that is Benavente I spotted one of my students under the burden, it made it more personal. I went with the other American Teachers and we had a great time rocking our Americanness. We went into the first café in Benavente that makes caramel lattes, wait it gets better, to go! They told us that the lattes wouldn’t be very good to go. We insisted, after all we practically invented the caramel latte to go! We sipped on our not-full to go cups as we watched Jesus and his donkey go through the doors of the cathedral. It was not the most exciting experiences in Spain but it was one of the most moving.

The processions of Sevilla were not any more exciting. I squealed with excitement when I saw the first few people dressed up for the procession walk down the street, but the actual procession is a very slow and popular event. So you get crammed into a large inescapable crowd and could potentially watch a large statue move at a pace or, well the pace you would walk if you had a 5 ton statue on your head. There are many variations to this traditional procession; including the Drunken Procession in Zamora and the race between a Jesus and Mary statue. However, we only caught the traditional ones, beautiful and fascinating but not quite as much sparkle.

After a whirlwind trip through Andalucia the home of the Spanish Stereotype. We raced through Cordoba, Granada and Malaga then headed north to Barcelona, a very unique Spanish city. Each with its own charm. But more on those later. Let’s stick to Spain in fiesta for now.

LA VEGUILLA

As my time in Benavente goes by, the little things begin to come together and the little details become more apparent. For example, I have noticed over the past few days that there are a lot of shops called “La Veguilla”. La Veguilla is a Benavente holiday when the youth get drunk and the population of Benavente gathers at the Main Plaza to ask the Mayor for the bull festival in June. To an outsider it seems silly. They get the bull every year. Although I do think it would be amusing to see the Mayor say no once, just to mix it up a bit. They take this all very seriously. On Benavente tv they have a scroll at the bottom of the screen stating the bull’s name and weight so that we can get to know him very well before we taunt him and serve him for dinner.