Culture and Customs

Christmas childrens park

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Between Christmas and New Year there are various organised activities for children here in Catalunya.  I don’t have children so  wasn’t part of that world in the UK and  I don’t know if it happens there too but the Catalan way is to do it on a very big scale.

The biggest one here was a three day Christmas park – Parc Infantil Nadal or PIN – which took place in the Granollers sports centre.

It is the same place where I went to see Amma but now transformed into a giant playground where you pay a few euros to enter and then can do as much as you want.

It was impossible to photograph but strung across this hall was a high wire – you get attached to a harness at one end and fly across to the other.
Why didn’t I do it? I was a bit scared I suppose but it looked wonderful.
There were areas to learn circus skills of course

Dolls lined up ready to be played with

Miniature shops and houses waiting for occupants to move in

Mysterious games made of recycled materials that you had to discover how to use

and a quick way to get down to the lower level from the top floor.

I didn’t try this either but wanted to very much!

Something sweet?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

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.

How to get more presents at Christmas!

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

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

A taste of Catalan sausage

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

The traditional Christmas dinner here is Escudella i Carn d’Olla.

It is a kind of stew into which go chicken, pork, beef, sausage, potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, celery, checkpeas and large pasta shells.
First you eat the stock with the pastas as a soup. Then there are courses of the meat and vegetables and chickpeas. Of course everything has been boiled up with the meat.  When I say pork by the way I mean more than just the usual parts – there are also trotters, muzzle, tail, ears.

I am 90% vegetarian by the way which makes Christmas lunch an interesting experience.

Thank god for turrons and cava!

24 Hours in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

I never forget how lucky I am to be able to do this.
Jump on a train and after 45 minutes I can arrive in the middle of Barcelona on Passeig de Gracia.
For those of you who always think of me basking in the sunshine, I just need to tell you – today it rained – all the time.
But I still went to Barcelona for the day

You have to start the day with a little something

Then I went to visit Santa Maria Del Mar.

We are reading a novel about the life and times of a boy who helped with the construction of this church – all the stones had to be carried from the quarries at Montjuic down to the site near the harbour where the cathedral was being built.

‘Una catedral construida pel poble i per al poble en la Barcelona medieval és l’escenari d’una trepidant història d’intriga, violència i passió.’

I am amazing myself by reading it in Catalan- missing some of the nuances but understanding the general drift. I am very slow and not only because of the language – it is not a book that I imagine has a happy ending!

Medieval life was hard.

Today the doors were closed so I walked around the outside.
Drinking fountains opposite the front door.  I expect when the stone carriers arrived they were always thirsty

Something that looked like a baseball net on one wall but I imagine it was an old lamp holder.

And at the back the view up to the old Born market hall.

Next stop was the Santa Llucia Christmas market to search for small figures to decorate the cake. Most of the stalls sell all that you need for creating a Pessebre – the Catalan nativity scene – including the famous caganers.

The tackiest ones have piles of Tiòs ready for December 24th

All day I hunted for these very comfortable house shoes

This shoe shop was very stylish and friendly but didn’t have what I wanted.

In the end I found them back in Granollers!
Where I also caught sight of Santa Claus shopping in the rain.