How negligent I've been this last month! It has literally felt like a whirlwind of travelling, and now that I am back safe and sound in my home away from home in Salamanca, I feel that I should let you all know some of the great things I've gotten to see!
In Spain the week before Easter is called "Semana Santa" and everyone goes on vacation. As a result of this nation-wide rest-time, our group got to travel for 2 and a half weeks! The first ten days we all made our own plans, and then last part was spent travelling together as a big group. I went on a trip with 5 girlfriends and we had an amazing time spending 5 days in Valencia and 5 days in Malaga.
Valencia
We were lucky enough to plan our trip around this amazing festival in Valencia called "Las Fallas". Las Fallas is a yearly festival celebrated as a symbol of the new year, a cleansing of sins and all of the worry from the year. The way the Valencians demonstrate this idea is by making giant paper sculptures on every street and then on the last day of the festival, stringing the ornate sculptures with what appears to be cartoon TNT and setting them on fire. They burn to the ground amidst a sea of people crammed together, everyone cheering and yelling and feeling the heat from the fire. The most incredible part of the whole thing is how beautiful and well-crafted the sculptures are. Many of them carry political and social commentary, and burning them is a way to rid oneself of all the corruption of the world, etc. It was pretty ridiculous walking around during the day checking all of them out, knowing that their sole purpose for existing was to be destroyed. It truly was a once in a life time experience.
Our hotel in Valencia turned out to be an appartment for six people, equipped with a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a living room and bedrooms! It was much more luxurious than we expected, and added to all the fun we had, as all of us were able to bond over making dinner and drinking wine, chatting and getting to know eachother better.
Onward to...
Malaga
After all of the sight-seeing and staying up late we did in Valencia, we were all ready for a relaxing 5 days, spent in the sun on the beach. As our hostel was about 5 minutes away from a beach, we got a lot of that. The weather was nice (albeit a bit windy) and although our hostel was a little out of the way, we were able to get around just fine, and got to see some pretty cool things on top of getting rather nice tans.
One aspect of Semana Santa that is very interesting is that there are processions each night in honor of the resurrection of christ on easter. We were lucky enough to see one of these in Malaga, on Good Friday. Many of the processions are jubilant and optomistic, but as Good Friday is the most tragic part of Jesus' journey, the procession we saw was very serious and somber. The procession is hard to describe. Hundreds of men carry wooden "floats" of biblical stories on their shoulders, carrying the weight as a devotion to God. Some go barefoot or blinded by a blind-fold as an extra testament to their devotion. You might recognize the image of men holding candles in robes that eerily resemble what we Americans associate with the KKK. These men are robed in the same manner as the Christians during the Spanish Inquisition, and the outfit serves as a pedagogical symbol, and certainly does not carry the same stigma as the racist image we often have in mind when we see white robes and pointed masks. All in all, it was very beautiful, extremely interesting, and a great symbol of the importance of faith and tradition in the Spanish culture. I feel lucky to have witnessed it.
Speaking of tradition in the Spanish culture...
We also had the chance to attend a bullfight in Malaga. I was apprehensive at first, but upon some reflection decided it might be an important cultural experience. It was pretty jarring at first, to see the sort of things the bull goes through before it is put to death, but after a while, It became very interesting to me. First I focused on the bullfighters. There seemed to be a lot of respect for the power of the bull in the ring, and the matadors were cautious and graceful, dancing around the bull, so careful of where their bodies were placed in relation to that of the bull. Then I watched the audience. This was the best part. When watching the audience, its almost like being at a baseball game in the states. They were popping sunflower seeds, drinking beers, yelling. Contrary to popular belief, there is actually a specific time to yell "Ole!!" and when a torero (bull fighter) is really good, they wave white handkerchiefs in the air, and when he is not very good (aka..doesn't kill the bull on the first try) nobody claps, and the bullfighter takes the scorn with his back turned. It was pretty crazy. I don't plan on attending a bullfight again for a long, long time...but I'm glad I did.
This is getting very long...expect Part II: Andalucia in a few days!
love all,
Lindsay
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment