SEMANA SANTA
It occurs in spring and it´s celebrated in all Spain. Recall The passion of Christ and his Resurrection.
“La Semana Santa” in leon is one of the most interesting of the north of Spain.
Here we call “Papones” to the faithful people who carry statues of the Saints y we call “procesiones” to the parade of faithful and Saints.
It´s splendid and beautiful event although you aren´t religious.
STRANGE TRADITION IN SEMANA SANTA: EL ENTIERRO DE GENARÍN
It´s celebrate in León the Maundy thurday.
Genaro Blanco, “Genarín” was a drunkard man who used to go with whores, he earn money with animal skills.
In 1929 on Maundy Thursday he was knocked down by the first garbage truck while he was having a piss!
People start to remember him with poems, and year after year more people were incorporated to Genarin memory.
Sortly afterwards it becomes in a frarce traditional procession that comes until today like a mockery, or critic towards the hypocrite acttitude of the Church.
Nowadays people make a fun procession with funny poems and songs.
STRANGE TRADITION IN SEMANA SANTA: “MATAR JUDIOS” ( “to kill Jewish”)
Don´t worry is not literal! It´s an expression we say only in León during Semana Santa.
It´s used when we take a typical Semana Santa drink call “limonada”.
It´s made with red wine, sugar, lemons, oranges, cinnamon, and sometimes figs and raisins.
(It similar to “Sangria”,more knowed in the rest of Spain.)
It´s nothingto seems with lemonade! If you drink a bit our “limonada” you´ll probably be tipsy, don´t take a lot!
In the past we had conflicts with Jewish, so people when kill or (expel) drive Jewilsh out of our land celebrated this with a drink...
So this expression come from that, but nowadays is only a expression that means drink limonada.
Let´s go to “matar judios”!
He is the León Patron Saint.
In the beginning of October it´s his day and is our most traditional fiesta.
We remember our ancestors and their traditions.
We decorate carts like our ancestors woth flowers, branchs, bread, etc...
We go for a walk with aou “pendones”, they are something like very big flags that represent each León villages.
We eat hazelnuts and a lot of “morcilla” (made with pig´s blood)too, it´s sound bad but it´s very tasty.
Is our big fiesta, but it isn’t the most traditional.
It´s in the last days of June, when most of the university students have final exams! (we can fail but we can´t lose the party)
There are different things like: bullfighting, parades, shows in the street, music, concerts, activities for all the ages, street market, typical eat and drink stalls and also international stalls, fair, etc
The most interesting maybe: fireworks and the Saint Juan bonfire that has pagan origin and there´s a rumor going aroun this that says it´s used to burn bad things like gosht, evil spirits, thoughts, regards, etc.
People spend nights in pubs in a zone call “Barrio Humedo”; is in the city center and is the ancient part of the city.
There you can take “tapas” and diferents drinks and then you can go to dance.
It´s a great festive atmosphere!
1 comment:
Haha, yes, let's go "matar judios." I think it's very important to know the origin of each holiday. I can think of a similar example. Halloween, originally similar to "All Saints Day," is a day the ancient people believed that the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living. That's why sometimes we have people dressed up as ghosts and witches on Halloween nights. There are a lot of different stories behind different symbols and objects associated with the festival. However, now, most people just see it as an occasion to dress up and have fun.
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