A small rock in the Atlantic: 21/06/09

St. John's bonfires

In Spain it's traditional to have a bonfire to mark the feast of St John the Baptist, on the night of June 23rd. There are lots of private bonfires on La Palma, and some people use the occasion to have a good clear out and burn the rubbish. Several beaches hold bonfire parties, too. And I'm told that in some cases there's nude bathing.

I don't know about you, but to me, bonfires and nude bathing at midsummer sounds a good deal older than Christianity.

But in Puerto Naos they add their own twist. A covern of witches appears at about 10:30 pm and dances around bonfire. Then they chase the children (who love it, of course).

I asked this lady for a curse on my boss, but she said that they're all good witches, and they don't do curses, ever, even for bosses.

Which is a good thing, seeing as I'm self-employed.

Labels: bonfire, Midsummer, San Juan., St. John the Baptist

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Procession for the Sacred Heart

They have lots of religious processions on La Palma, where they take the statue out of the church and around the neighbourhood streets, with music provided by the town band. A lot of the statues are beautiful, but if you see a lot of these processions, they do get a bit samey.

This one started much like all the others, only on the salt carpet. But when they got halfway along the first carpet, the statue stopped and brightly coloured bits of paper and bougainvillea petals started raining down from a nearby rooftop, which was very pretty indeed. (I found out later that the papers had "The promises of the Sacred Heart" printed on them - at least twelve different ones.) And the kids scrambled to collect the papers while they released some doves.

At the end of the first carpet, the procession stopped again, beside the old church, where the choir sang about "The Source of Love" - and sang it very well, too.

Then the procession went off through the carpet and pictures of houses, and on round the back streets.

I left the procession to get ready for them coming up the hill through the other archways. And I waited, and waited and waited. It must have been a very long procession, because they still hadn't appeared an hour later.

So I gave up and went home.

Labels: El Paso, fiestas, Sacred Heart, Sagrado corazon

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Archways for the Sacred Heart

Ahem. When I said "...more photos tomorrow", I actually meant "mañana".

The salt carpets aren't the only thing. They also make wonderful archways, similar to those in Mazo. Well, as you can see, these days some of them aren't arches. In this case the carpet is leaves from tree-heathers, laid down with a garden seive. Like the ones in Mazo, they're decorated with seeds and flowers.

Unlike the ones in Mazo, a lot of the fine detail is done with crushed and dyed eggshells.

This archway features the twelve apostles.

Centuries ago, the Virgin Mary appeared in a pine tree in the mountains above the village. (More on that another day.)

And this one celebrates the local silk industry. (More on that another day, too.)

Labels: El Paso, fiestas, flower arches, Sacred Heart, Sagrado corazon, salt carpets

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The Sacred Heart

It's El Paso's main fiesta, The Sacred Heart (El Corazon Sagrado). Like Mazo and San José, they make archways and carpets, but they're slightly different.

In San José, they dye the salt, and then put the colours together to make the picture. In El Paso, they start by putting down white salt --kilos and kilos of it from the salt pans in the southern tip of the island.

Spraying the colours onto the salt carpet