Carnaval (Carnival in
English) is fast approaching here in Spain and everyone’s talking about
it. It’s quite a big deal here,
especially in the south of Spain.
The celebration is similar to the granduer, lavish
Carnaval celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The celebration of
Carnaval evolved from a feast where everyone would finish off all the goods to
be sacrificed during lent such as meat and sweets. However, it evolved into a full-fledged celebration of everything carnal. In Galicia, they kick off Carnaval with
a matanza (a pig killing celebration). Family and friends gather together to choose one of the
family’s pigs to kill for meat for the family’s own meat supply. We were invited to a matanza, but we didn’t make it. I suppose attending a matanza will have to remain on our
bucket lists until next Carnaval. Just Kidding! Oh Spain and their crazy traditions.
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| There are many pig faces and parts being sold in the market before Carnaval (Carnival) |
Some
of the traditions associated with Carnaval here are simply crazy and absolutely
strange! In a nearby town in Galicia, they celebrate Carnaval by throwing ants
at people in the streets. We’ve
been told that people line up in the streets to be pelted by ants. In one small Galician town the
ants are covered in flour. In
another town, they are covered in feces from different farm animals. What in the world? I can just picture it. “Let’s get the whole family together
for the annual Carnaval ant throwing parade, and then we’ll head to the
restaurant to grab a bite to eat.”
Just how do these traditions get started? I find it so strange that some of Spain’s most bizarre
traditions survive since everyone I’ve met is quite normal and pretty
sophisticated. Among other bizarre
Spanish traditions are bullfights, the running of the bulls, tomato fights, and
baby jumping festivals.
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| The huge annual tomato fight (tomatina) that takes place in Buñol, Spain |
If you’re interested in reading about a few other loco Spanish festivals, check out this link:
http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/blog/spanish-culture/babylon-idiomas-presents-10-crazy-spanish-festivals-where-people-throw-stuff/
Finally! Finally! Finally! The sun came out this Sunday and
it was almost sixty degrees outside.
This means that everyone (literally EVERYONE) was outside after the
siesta. Walking around on the
paseo (our beachside trail), one could’ve easily mistaken it to be summer by
the way everyone was celebrating.
I know us Wisconsinites probably appreciate the sun just as much after a
long winter, but these Spaniards just have a different way of showing it. The
air smelled of barbecues. We probably saw over fifty children riding bikes on
the very short trail, and we probably spotted over fifty dogs. When the sun comes out, they don’t mess
around. The entire family pours out onto the small paseo and it seems as if no
one has a care in the world.
Top Five Observations From Our Sunny Run:
1. It’s completely normal for a fifteen year-old boy to hold
hands with his mother while walking.
2. Sweet elderly couples love to hold hands! If I wasn’t already so impressed with
these eighty year olds for actually walking at a pretty normal pace without any
assistance, the fact that they hold hands at that age makes me adore this group
of Galicians even more.
3. Women walk arm and arm. Whether they are teenagers or in
their eighties, they link arms as they stroll together. This concludes our
hand-holding/arm-linking observations. :)
4. I think it
is difficult for Spaniards to walk and talk at the same time unless they are
walking very slowly. If two or
more people are walking on the trail and having a conversation, they often take
a few steps, stop, and turn to each other to finish their conversation. It’s so funny to watch the older men
walking together (very common).
They walk a few steps, stop, face each other, and repeat.
5. Babies and children are treated like royalty. Maybe that’s an overstatement, but for
every little four-year old riding a bike, there was bound to be at least three
adults around this little princess taking pictures. It’s cute because the kids don’t seem very conceited either.
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| From our perspective... |
They spend their non-walking years in ritzy
buggies and dressed in the fanciest of baby clothes. When they are older, a three year old still dresses with the
styles of a very hip and modern thirty year old. They look like dolls!
In fact, baby clothes here are very expensive. It seems that all the baby clothes come from boutiques. It is normal to pay 50 Euros for a pair
of baby shoes. In America, it’s
totally acceptable to buy baby clothes from a garage sale. We love to save. This makes sense since the kids will
get the clothes dirty as soon as they put them on. Here, the children look immaculate! It’s odd not to see little boys with dirt-stained knees. Maybe their
knees would be dirty if American
football was popular here!
A Day Trip to Santiago de Compostela
Robin and I spent yesterday in the capital of Galicia. We visited the cathedral where Jesus's apostle, St. James, is rumored to be buried. University students "hug" him (the statue) for good luck before beginning classes.
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| Stay tuned to find out whether Alyssa eats Octopus...tentacles and all! |
