domingo de ramos (palm sunday)

Palm Sunday, the day celebrated as the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, found us in Ronda, in southern Spain, witnessing one of the procesiónes of Semana Santa, (Holy Week). It was quite an impressive experience to watch about half of this town's population of 40K turn up for the procession through town. You can see in the photos pictures of one of the two floats which was carried on the shoulders of the young men of the town, Jesus on the donkey. The other float was a float with Mary. Included in the parade, were lots of kids dressed up as "Nazarenes" (people from Jesus' home town), and many of the adult Nazarenes wore the traditional capuchone (hood). When I asked the old guy next to me what is the meaning of the capuchone, he just said "they've been wearing those for 500 years". Fortunately, Wikipedia (see link) provided the answer stating that they are a symbol of penitence (sorrow for sins). You may notice that these hoods bear a strong resemblence to those worn by a particular southern organization in the U.S; that is no coincidence. The KKK based their outfits on the Nazarene outfit. By odd coincidence, as I am writing this in a wi-fi cafe in Granada, there is a Santa Martes (Holy Tuesday) procesión going by just outside the window. Better go put on my capuchone.

relaxing in ronda

While we are waiting for our clothes to dry in this Granada lavandería, I will mention a few words of our time in Ronda. Ronda is one of the pueblos blancos (white hill towns) of Andalucía in southern Spain. It was one of the last bastions of Islam to fall in the 1400’s (Granada was the last in 1492). It is quite a picturesque town, mostly known for its views of the surrounding valley and mountains, the development of modern bullfighting, and for the amazing Puente Nuevo (new bridge) built in the 1790’s to span the 330 foot canyon (see picture). The Puente Nuevo is known for being the drop off point for many republicans and nationalists during the Spanish Civil War (a brutal way to take care of your “enemy combatants”). Take a look at the wind blowing Liam’s hair up.
While we were in Ronda, a funny thing happened. We went to buy a Spanish novel as a present, and told the shopkeepers it was for a 40ish woman. The female shopkeeper pointed out some novels written by a guy who does historical fiction. The male shopkeeper picked up a book called, "El tocador de mujeres", which can be translated as "the woman toucher" or "the woman player".