So we just came off Semana Santa (holy week) in Spain - Easter (Pascua in Espanol). It means TONS of events, parades, special ceremonies, business that are closed down, and yes, over a week off of school for the kids! We traveled, explored Barcelona more,
Quick Hits!
The weather is glorious and I’ve taken to yoga on the terrace most mornings of the week!
Yes, we have bidet’s in our bathrooms. They are glorious!
My cooking lessons are coming along - we even had a chef over to the house to cook a meal for us and some friends (pics below)!
Lanzarote wine - look that one up. Totally messed up….pics (and some details) below.
Last blog I mentioned El Ratoncito Perez (the rat they have here instead of a ‘tooth fairy’. Well I missed part of the story. Apparently what he does is take the teeth and put them in oysters, which turn them into pearls, so…..now you know where pearls come from! (this according to a friend and I can’t find anything online - I may be gullible).
Semana Santa - the ‘holy’ part
So I’m not going to go into it too much - it would take 10 pages which I don’t want to write and I know you don’t want to read. In Spain they don’t have “Easter Weekend” they have an entire week. As said, Semana Santa (holy week). They celebrate with many traditions, foods, and celebrations. They take tons of time off (many business are closed - gyms - grocery stores - markets - restaurants - etc). Spain is predominately a Catholic country so Easter is one of the most important religious times. While we have the Easter Bunny they are not typical here. They don’t paint chicken eggs (they have GIANT chocolate eggs though) but they do have plenty of their own traditions that are very special and amazing. So, Palm Sunday to the following Monday bits are below:
Domingo de Ramos – Palm Sunday
The Spanish Easter week begins with Palm Sunday, Domingo de Ramos. Typically people go to church and bring a palm branch with them on this day to have it blessed. This procedure recalls Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, where the citizens greeted him with palm leaves. The ‘palm branches’ are VERY intricate here…some we saw were well over 100€. (pics below).
The processions on jueves (Thursday) Santo y viernes (Friday) Santo
While between Palm Sunday and Easter there are occasional parades, events, and other activities, the next important day is Good Friday, which in Spanish is called Viernes Santo “Holy Friday“.
First, the large cross is carried through the streets to commemorate the Passion of Christ. This is followed by the brotherhoods of Hermandades or Cofradías. Aint no lie - this is the dress for the procession in the street:
Domingo de Pascua – Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday is usually a family day and most all businesses are closed. There are a TON of Spanish sweets and foods that are always enjoyed - see below for the traditional cake (Mona de Pascua).
Lunes de Pascua – Easter Monday
So Easter Sunday is with family, but Easter Monday (business still closed, kids still out of school) is for hanging with friends. We had friends over for lunch, wine, and good laughs.
Typical Easter Food in Spain
As mentioned above, the Mona de Pascua is the typical cake (pics of ours below). Decorated with chocolate figures (we had chocolate eggs on ours) or toys, they the Catlan versions are always the best and most intricate. According to the old tradition, the cake is bought by the godfather for the godchild…but Ashley bought ours at the famous Foix de Sarria bakery across the street from our home.
Another popular dessert at Easter is buñuelos de viento (cream puffs), balls of dough made with wheat flour, eggs and lard, then deep-fried in hot oil. They are called “de viento” (“wind“) because they swell and double in volume when deep fried. I then swell and doubles in waist circumference.
Mains usually are lamb or fish, and plenty of bread, olive oil, and wine are always on the table!
Wow - that was a lot….so we enjoyed Semana Santa - the ‘holy’ part.
Semana Santa - the ‘FUN’ part
Most people here don’t take all that before too serious. It’s over a week off with the kids and the weather has been winter - so it is like SPRING BREAK for us! We traveled to the Canary Islands. This is like Hawaii, a cluster of islands and it is off the west coast of Africa, but is Spanish land. We were on the island of Lanzarote with the kids. After a day one screw up (my lips are sealed Ashley) we were on the island and had a great time. We toured the island for a day, hit the ‘wine route’ for what was the most interesting vineyard I’ve ever seen, and relaxed over food, wine, and sun. It was needed by all as in my previous blog I talked about the weather in March - RAIN. Even though we are now 15 minutes to the beach (platja or playa) the weather has not been kind to getting the kids there in March (it is now though!!). Plenty of pictures (imágenes) below…
Quick Spain Facts!
It takes about a kilogram (2.2 pounds but I’m sure you knew that one) to make one bottle of wine.
Spanish the second most common language - and is spoke by almost 500,000,000 people. I’m still not close to being 500,000,001st one though.
Nudity is legal.
Spain makes more olives and olive oil than either Greece or Italy.
The highest mountain in Spain is not in ‘Spain’ mainland - it is in the Canary Islands (Mount Teide at 3718 meters on Tenerife). The Canary’s are 75 km off the coast of Africa but owned by Spain.
The famous La Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona has taken more time than the Egyptian pyramids to complete (more on this church next blog)…
Next blog I will chat about our first visitors this last week, St Jordy’s Day, and how it felt to get back to the US for 8 days…until then, hasta luego! Oh, as promised I’ll try to get some pics of our ‘home’ too….