Now to explain the mysterious logo on my page! I have signed up to write a short something every day of January. To see what catches my attention and make a note of it. The project is called River of Stones and is to encourage people to write and to focus on the present moment. The challenge for me is to keep it short! These posts will nestle in alongside my other ones.
Author: Kate Wilson
Red Knickers
The shops are full of red underwear – it’s a Spanish custom to wear new red pants on New Years Eve to bring good luck. You can’t just go and buy them – they need to be a gift! When I say Spanish I mean the tradition comes from outside Catalunya but seems to be every more popular here, at least from what I see in shop windows!
The other new custom for me to integrate is the eating of twelve grapes as the clock strikes midnight. So add that to the whisky and Auld Lang Syne and first footing with coal and salt….. it is a busy night.
BON ANY NOU!
May you have
Walls for the wind
And a roof for the rain
and drinks beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
and those you love near you
and all that your heart may desire!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
WELCOME 2011
Something sweet?
I have almost reached my limit with sugar now. But what sort of person could resist this?
It was a present from Barcelona and came wrapped in the usual pretty paper that bakers specialise in here. It is called a Coca and is a speciality of Catalunya. They can be sweet or savoury and open or closed. This one is open and sweet. The closed ones often look a little boring when you see them in the bakers but filled with that wonderful custard cream are totally irresistable to me. The pastry in a good coca is light and soft and delicious.
These are some of the other temptations that are lying around the house
Turrons come in many different varieties and at special dinners are cut into small cubes and presented on a large plate. Neules are popular and look nice but don’t really do much for me. I like the chocolate ones occasionally. Everyone here LOVES the little packets at the front of the photo – they are polvorones and the supermarkets are full of them. They also come in a hundred different shapes and sizes but they have one thing in common – they break down into dry dust in your mouth and I hate them! I feel bad about it but I do.
The Glad Game
The time between Christmas and New Year is a good time to look back and remember all the good moments and give thanks for all the gifts this year brought me.
It started with a full moon and a magical holiday in Port de la Selva
Memories of…..
- travels to Aiguamolls, Madrid, Delta de L’Ebre, Costa Brava, Prades, Canigo, Llaers
- trying out new things, skiing, cooking tortilla, teaching children arty things
- scary bits – driving around here, cooking dinner for the extended Catalan family, dealing with the chicken body parts that the butcher pressed into my unwilling vegetarian hands
- giving up smoking and taking up yoga – again and again!
- teaching tango in Castellano and the patience of my pupils
- bathing naked in wonderful places
- hot mineral bathes with my sister and nephew
- Reiki in the woods with gentle Jordi
- smiles and hugs from friendly people even though we couldn’t string together a conversation
- popping up to Barcelona for the day to see friends and potter around
- fumbling along with Castellano and Catala and……poco a poco /poc a poc… it gets easier
- visitors from home – so lovely to see familiar faces and be able to share my life a little with them
Huge thank you to all the people who have helped me this year. There are so many who have listened and let me talk, supported me in so many ways, hugged me, smiled at me, written to me, texted me, skyped me, sent thoughts and healing. I wouldn’t still be here without your support and friendship. My dear friends in Cornwall – Karen and Tony, Margret and Val – who look after my house and my two dogs – of course without you there would be no Kate walking the Catalan Way – thank you with all my heart.
Living in a new country, in a new relationship and in two new languages is not always easy but I have found it intensely interesting and energising and satisfying. I absolutely could not do it without the love and care of others and I send thanks in bucket loads for that. If you are reading this – this means you! Just the act of reading my blog gives me support and makes me feel connected.
I am very lucky to have a wonderful ‘mother-in-law’ who has been there many times when I needed a hug and encouragement. She spent a year in London when she was a young nurse and didn’t speak much English – she knows how it is.
And huge thanks and love to He Who Does Not Want To Be Named Nor Appear In Photos!
For all the love and the laughter and the places you have taken me and yes – for the things I have learned from you -and for your smiley eyes – Thank you!
How to get more presents at Christmas!
The day after Christmas is Boxing Day.
Or is it?
Here it is the Feast of Sant Esteve – St Stephen. As in the song Good King Wenceslas. Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen.
In Catalunya it is a public holiday and traditionally a day for families to visit and have lunch together. Yes you probably met each other the day before and the day before that, but why not do it all again, but in a different house?
It was an excuse for me to borrow the wonderful cutlery again.
I love rolling out these parcels….
And to deck the table with pine cones and candles and a beautiful Christmassy table cloth borrowed from Tiffany
My friend Caren kindly dropped by to show me how to make the napkins into little fans. We sat on the sofa folding and fanning and the gorgeous Joel, who is about 9 months old, took his first crawl between us.
A wonderful moment and a nice memory of this day
Here as in many Catholic countries you have not only a birthday but a saints day to celebrate your namesake.
Saints days mean parties and presents.
So if you are called Esteve you get a second hit of gifts on December 26th.
Personally this would put me off calling my child Esteve as it seems to encourage greed at an already overloaded time of year but when I voiced this to ‘someone’ they seemed surprised that the thought had passed through my mind. You see, it is usual here to name your child after someone else in your family and if your father was called Esteve then it is highly likely you will name your son after him. Esteve/Stephen is a common name so I suppose thousands of little boys every year receive presents on December 24th and then again two days later. And if they have also adopted the northern custom of Santa Claus there will also be presents on December 25th.
Three days of presents!
Looking for information on this saint I found his name in Greek is Stephanos which means crown and he is the patron saint of horses, coffin makers, stone masons and against headaches.
What exactly is a Saints Day?
I like the idea of having one.
It is the celebration of the saint that shares your name. I am playing with the idea of adopting Saint Catherine (of Alexandria) as mine. But what it means I am really not sure. Surely it must be more than presents and a meal with the family? Is there some magic in a name which links us with ‘our’ saint?
And with all the other people with the same name?
For birthdays people here say ‘ Per molt anys’ (for many years) and I was surprised that they say it on the saint day too.
As an outsider – not only in nationality but in religion – I can’t quite get under the skin of these saints days and what they mean but one thing is clear to me – it is easier to remember someone’s saints day than their birthday and it is a nice custom to think today of all the Stephens I know
