Well, I'm very far behind on keeping this blog up. Cody and Setare have come and gone already but I will share some of the great adventures we had during their stay. First, the title is in honor of Setare. She couldn't stop saying this the first few days she was here.
When I met them at the train station on Tuesday the 22nd I was looking at two very tired young folks. Apparently the train is not as easy to sleep on as one might think. Apparently they talked in monosyllables all the way here -- each one starting a dialogue to find the other one drifting off to sleep, I brought them to my apartment and they emailed and rested for a couple of hours prior to our beginning our crazy week of the Hogueras Festival. Little did they know that rest was not soon to come -- Alicante during this festival time grows from 300,000 people to over a million and people party with bands in the streets till around 6 a.m. Additionally, a band goes up and down the streets in the mornings to wake people up at 8, 9, and 10. Also, there are firecrackers going off all of the time. What excitement in the air. The University closes for Thursday and Friday as do many other businesses and the city is ready to celebrate!
Pilar, the instructor for our European Women in History class met the class at 7:15 p.m. so we could get an insider's view of the Festival and it's many traditions. As I might have said previously, there had already been several parades (traditional and character-based) that would go down the two main streets of the city centre for about 3-4 hours. Chairs were set up on each side of the road so folks could sit for hours to observe. Pilar's Uncle and Aunt dress up and have been doing the parades for about 50 years, including when she was a young girl and would go with them. We first got to meet them and her Mom as well as to see the areas that people pay all year to enjoy. Many small neighborhoods pay to have their special large street area where everyone eats lunch together (around 3 p.m.) and all ages play outside to the wee hours. I could certainly see the Creighton Way bunch taking to this activity with a lot of gusto.
We then toured around looking at the magical art structures that are created throughout the city. There are about 100 in total and they are placed in size and cost categories and compete for prizes. I've posted some pictures of them on Facebook but will try to see how to get a few up here in a bit. Most of these structures are cynical and satirical about politics and culture. They remind me of a cross between Mardi Gras and Burning Man -- what a great site to run around and see. There was a beautiful one representing the Picasso painting in the Reine Sophia in Madrid. (A special painting that he would not let be brought back to Spain until Franco was no longer in power). It is amazing that they are so willing to burn them on Thursday evening.
After our tour we were off to celebrate one of the student's 20th birthday (two other students had turned 21 last week). We ended up at one of the marina bars dancing till around 3:30 a.m. Although I had school the next day, the kids were able to sleep some and try to get up just to join up with others after their classes. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was a whirlwind of activities -- market shopping, attending the 2 p.m. firecracker competitions, going to the beach, enjoying great food (paella, tapas, churros, etc.) running around town, watching futbol games, dancing, and moving through the crowds and noise. Wednesday night saw the largest beach party I have ever seen -- clearly a place that many high school students did and then Thursday midnight's fires were absolutely spectacular! It is truly hard to explain what we saw.
The idea of the Hogueras de San Juan (the Baptist) is a very old festival to celebrate the arrival of the summer solstice. The purpose of the rite is to "give more power to the sun." Symbolically the fire is also about "cleansing" so it includes the homemade bonfires on the beach where folks jump over the fires to mean moving into the new days. The big bonfires are the burning of these huge structures. Now Spain has, of course, made this into a party. The bambaros are playfully taunted till they turn the water on the crowd and everyone gets totally drenched. If you go to http://www.euroresidentes.com/Fiestas/Hogueras_Alicante.htm you can see many pictures of the activities I've been describing. Also, we have some wonderful pictures on our Facebook pages (Cody and I) if you want to see those.
This was a wonderful week for them to be here! Yo (Heart) Alicante!
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