Happy new year to all our guests, friends and family, well I thought |I’d wait before posting as we have been having the Spanish Christmas…dia de los Reyes (3 kings) here this week and then in Totana we have another Fiesta day on the 7th Jan. This is when they take the patron Saint of the town 7km back up the hill to her home in the Monesterio de Santa Eulalia. Please see earlier posts for the descent!
So where to start…..well December, here in Spain it is nowhere near as commercial as it is in the UK although that is changing slowly…sadly! In-fact a measure of how unimportant some see the Christmas spending habits is that for almost a week at the beginning of the month of December many of the shops and businesses close to celebrate National Day, 6th December and La Dia de la Immaculada, 8th December (it‘s not worth going back to work they figure as the week has been broken by the holiday!).
On the 8th is when the patron Saint of Totana was brought down from the Monastery to be placed in the main church until her return in January.
Christmas - the 25th December - this was pretty quiet here, the Spanish have a meal traditionally on the 24th some will have present from Papa Noel on the 25th, but most will wait until the 6th January.
Ourselves, we had Turkey….didn’t go for a swim in the pool this year (it was freezing last year). We ventured into the town in the morning and had a look at the Belen (nativity scene) which help feel a little more Christmassy. Then we took the dogs for a nice long walk around by the Bastida, before that more traditional English past-time “watching the telly”!
On the 28th Totana had a cake fest, the battle for the largest Roscon de Reyes, a most unusual tradition, but fun - they bake this huge long cake and hidden inside are toys donated by the local businesses which symbalise the baby Jesus figure historically hidden in the cake which brought luck to the finder throughout the year. Until a couple of years ago Totana held the world record for length appearing in the Guiness book of records. Again, the whole town it seems, comes out to have a piece of cake and hot chocolate there are now also raffle tickets in parts of the cake and prizes if you get a ticket. All through the evening Carols were played and it was a lovely way to spend an evening.
New year we decided to go to my sisters house on the coast as we could walk into the town and partake of a few beers and the NY atmosphere.
We decided to venture out at about 10pm, well every bar we past was closed…..What? Closed what’s going on….the place was deserted. We ended up in and Irish bar (not very Spanish, but enjoyable) had a couple of beers and headed for the town square. Although it was quiet when we arrived, it soon started to fill up. Free drinks were being handed out along with party packs. By midnight it was packed, people had their grapes (12 to be eaten on the strokes of midnight are meant to bring good luck for the next year) No one seemed drunk and it was very much a family occasion, we watched a few of the fireworks go off and then we made our way back to the house.
Monday the fourth when the UK is all getting back to normal, well as normal as you can with a foot of snow, we here in Spain are gearing up for the 3 kings, there are parades and the whole place has a carnival atmosphere. On the night of the 5th most towns have a parade and thousands of sweets are thrown out to children in the crowd. In Totana it looked like presents were being thrown as well! Again the whole town seemed to be in attendance and a real party atmosphere was to be seen.
On the 6th we ventured to Aledo a small medieval town perched on a rocky outcrop below the Sierra Espuna. Here there was to be a reenactment of the arrival of the 3 kings. It was bitterly cold, but that didn’t stop the villagers gathering for hot chocolate (and maybe something a little stronger) and some traditional cake prior to the kings arrival….at about 10:30 they arrived camels an all!!! The enactment which is said to date back to the 17th Centaury then played out on the streets of Aledo, followed by 300 or so. It reached it’s climax in front of the town hall, where Herod and his roman soldiers conversed with the kings. Quite a spectical!
Today, 7th we were supposed to be following the St Eulalia back to the Monesterio (Santa Eulalia), but have awoken to persistent and heavy rain, knowing the Spanish, who don’t even like to go to work in the rain! They will not be walking today, so we will have to find out when that will be rescheduled for. The forecast is better for tomorrow so maybe (as they will all have a Puente day - bridging day, well it’s not worth going back to work for just one day is it?) she will go up tomorrow!
And that as they say is it for another year….Monday will be back to normal….well until the next fiesta, which if memory serves is in another town near by..Alhama de Murcia in mid January.
We hope the snow currently covering the UK is not causing you all too much disruption. I’m a bit jealous really, we had snow here this time last year….you see it’s not all sun and sangria..and it was lovely, it’s getting colder this week, so you never know. The difference here is it generally lasts a week, maybe two and then it’s back to blue sky and sunshine and definitely nicer temperatures than the UK. All good news for the walks we have planned for 2010. We have some new routes ready as well as some of the classics we enjoyed during 2009.
It’s been a very busy year and there’s no reason 2010 shouldn’t be even better, as I hope you can see from my blog there’s plenty of great walking as well as some very enjoyable Spanish traditions to partake of whilst your enjoying your stay, so why not take a look at our website and see for yourselves what you could be doing of a vista verde trails guided walking holiday. Visit us at www.vistaverdetrails.com
Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2010!
