Yesterday
was the lunch to celebrate Santa Cecilia the patroness saint of music. This celebration consists of eating,
drinking, dancing and spontaneous shouting of “Viva Santa Cecillia” to which
the crowd responds “Viva”…or when we translated this into English as a laugh “Long
live Santa Cecilla”...”Live”.
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| Me and my adopted hermanita Paula |
I was
picked up at around half 2 and we went to a large function room in Casa Antonio
which is just a little bit outside of Baeza.
When I got there Martin (the conductor) introduced me to everyone and
two Spanish girls (who are cousins) told me to sit next to them at the meal. We all went in at around 3 o’clock and
started our ridiculously big lunch. We
had a little menu thing, which I forgot to pick up to take home, and I assumed
we had to pick like one thing from each part…nope…we were eating everything on
that menu. The starter course was a
selection of tapas. Olives, nuts,
cheese, ham, bacon-wrapped dates, pork slices, prawns, king prawns (although since
those are foods of death for me they made me a salad). Then a soup with eggs and bread, which I didn’t
like very much. By this point I was
almost full to bursting. They gave us a
small amount of time before our main course of pork sirloin and potatoes. In Spanish sirloin is solomillo and this
prompted renditions of “Oh Solo Mio” in honour of the food. After the pork we were given our
pudding. This was a pastry with nuts and
coffee beans on top with cream in the middle and vanilla and coffee flavoured
ice cream.
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| Oh solomillo... |
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| They stole mine before I finished :( |
During the
meal I apparently wasn’t eating enough so Juan Francisco (trumpet player) kept
telling me to “comé!”. All the food was
absolutely delicious and I loved meeting and getting to know the other players
better since I’d only ever seen the backs of their heads. It also gave me an invaluable opportunity to
practice my Spanish since not many people are bilingual. The meal lasted until around about 5 o’clock
then there were some speeches. Martin
welcomed all the new people and we all had to stand up. He extended a special welcome to me since I
am from Scotland and a bit of a novelty.
He said to think of the band as my family here in Baeza and they have
certainly welcomed me as such. I feel
very comfortable with them and look forward to each rehearsal. It is also something that is mine alone. I share the school with Megan and a lot of
the time I share Spanish friends with the other assistants. But this is mine and that feels good.
After the meal we all went downstairs and it
turned into a disco. They put on songs
that everyone would dance to as well as a lot of flamenco for the old
people. One of their songs is like a
version of the Superman song…a choreographed dance to a song called “Chu Chu Wa”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGvqqM1HzI&feature=fvst This is a progression and you start by
saluting, marching, up until you have your head looking up, tongue out,
shoulders touching your ears, hands out with thumbs up and your bum sticking
out. The disco was good fun and Teresa
taught me some flamenco moves and I taught them parts of the “Gay Gordons”. One of the little boys sang two flamenco
songs. He is so cute, 8 years old, and
he was singing at the mass today. The
disco lasted until around half 7.
After this I
went with Paula and her family to a pub where everyone was meeting for some
drinks. It was up one of the back
streets and it was a very nice pub.
JuanFran made me play a game of fooseball with two other guys and I
think we may have lost…I really can’t play that game. That was a laugh and I think that means they
are starting to accept me. I’m becoming
part of the fabric. After the closely contended
game I went and sat and talked with Paula, Teresa, Maria and the French horn player’s
young sons. I don’t even really remember
much of what we talked about…this is actually a problem as I don’t remember many
things when people tell me in Spanish. I
met a girl, Eli, who is studying in Granada and she has told me that when I go
there I’ve to let her know and I might be able to stay in her flat, at the very
least she’ll meet up with me and show me around. There was a lot of discussion about a band member
who every year on Santa Cecilia gets drunk and is a bit of a slut. One of the guys, Eli’s boyfriend, was saying
how last year he’d had to pull her skirt longer so that she wasn’t exposing
herself. When the crowd starting
thinning, at around half past 10, Paula told me that her and her family were
going to someone’s farm for some food (yeah more food…) and would I like to get
changed first before we go. I got
changed into my jeans and then her dad took me to their house and they had to
sort some stuff out before we went.
Paula’s flat
is very Spanish…well it would be. In her
living room they have their sofas positioned around the table with the brazier
in it. This is a wonderful thing and I
really don’t know why we don’t have them in the UK. Just underneath the dining table have a
heater and a big tablecloth to cover your legs.
On their dining table are a lot of photographs in frames. She said that the table was a shrine to her
sisters as she is only in one of the photos.
On their wall they have photos of the three girls when they made their
communions except these are professional ones done in studios. Her dad was in the kitchen just casually
slicing up a pig’s leg for the ham. Immensely
good. We then all headed to the barn
where we met up with Teresa’s family, the French horn player’s family and Maria’s
family (the ones who own it). Everyone
had brought something for us to eat.
There was chorizo, bread, eggs which they fried over the fire in a big
metal pan, the Serrano ham, orange slices in olive oil and sugar, and towards
the end of the night Teresa’s mum left to make gachas dulces which is a
traditional desert in Andalucía. It is
made with fried bread, fried nuts, and a lot of milk and flour. Honestly it was amazing. The crunch of the bread against the thick
creamy pudding, so good, I must learn how to make it.
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| Paula's dad cutting up the leg of ham |
I spent a lot
of time chatting with the kids. Then
when they started to play hide and seek I went and sought some adult
company. I was talking to Paula’s dad
and he told me that he used to be in the Marines and had spent a lot of time in
the USA. I’ve never heard him speak English
though because we have a deal to only speak Spanish so that I can learn. We toasted Santa Cecilia a few more times and
then the kids wanted me back so I went and played musical chairs and Chinese
Whispers. The rule for musical chairs
was that whoever got put out had to sing the music for the next round. It was fun to make Teresa’s six year old
brother Pepe sing as he was getting a bit bored. Luckily there was a pig in the corner which
Sebastian is fattening up to slaughter for his birthday on Thursday. Poor Rufina the 5th. They will cut, gut and de-pelt her in a metal
basin on the floor and then hang her sliced down the middle until she is ready
to be eaten. Even though I have grown up
around farms and know that animals get slaughtered and have no problems with
that it was strange that they do it all themselves. They said that to kill her they will stick a
spear behind her ear and drain the blood.
Then they laughed at how much they must seem to be brutes.
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| Pobrecita Rufina 5th |
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| Pepe (6) with a plate of chorizo |
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| My other hermanita Teresa |
I eventually
got home at around two am and had to go straight to bed as I had to be up,
along with everyone else who’d been there last night to play at mass in the
Cathedral this morning. I fell asleep
watching Still Game.
Now onto
today. Today was the mass is honour of,
you’ve guessed it, Santa Cecilia. I had
to be at the Cathedral for quarter past 12 and as I was walking up people were
letting off firecrackers. I really hate
the lack of health and safety here when it comes to things that are actually
dangerous. The mass lasted for an hour
and a half. We played through our stuff
and three of the younger children were singing the mass, and then finished with
el himno de Baeza. This is a march and
very beautiful. The lyrics are all about
how Christian soldiers spilt their blood in the conquest of Baeza and how they
are in the service of Spain and God.
“Fuiste nido enhiesto gigante
de los bravos guerreros que ayer
noble sangre por Christo donaron
como riego fecundo de fe.
Y blandieron invictas espadas
por Castilla y su reino sin par
conquistando Baeza tu fama
Gavilanes de tu nido Real.
Fuistes, Virgen bendita
la capitana de esos recios infanzones
y ellos, nobles baezanos
allá en
tu Alacá zar culto dieron a tu amor.
Eres, pues nuestra reina
vida y dulzura de esta tierra que te adora
de esta Baeza querida
joya andaluza noble y bella como el sol.
Volveremos con brio creciente
a luchar port u antiguo esplendor
y reharemos tu fama oh! Baeza
al servicio de Espana y de Dios
Forjadores
de la patria chica
despleguemos
ardour sin igual
para
hacer que Baeza perviva
Ciuadad
noble, gentil e inmortal.”
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