 February. Cuenca, Castilla y La Mancha. People of this village celebrate disguised as devils in this festival of prehistoric origin. The young boys of the town dressed as devils - wearing pants and jackets painted in bright designs, with large cowbells tied to their waists, and multicolored paper hats, which are replaced later on with cardboard bishop mitres - run through the streets, dance at the entrance and inside the church, pretend to wash the statue of San Blas, and march in procession with it to the uninterrupted sound of the cowbells. |
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
FEBRUARY FESTIVAL!
FLAMENCO!!!!!
Flamenco
Flamenco is a folk art, around 200 years old. It is from Southern Spain and is individualistic, yet structured. Song, dance and guitar are blended into passionate rhythms which are often improvised and spontaneous. Flamenco will have any imaginable theme, from up to date stories, to politics, to love, to history, to humor, etc. Often however, the tragic lyrics and tone of flamenco reflect the sufferings of the gypsy people from whom it originated
Flamenco exists in three forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing. The source of Flamenco, however, lies in the tradition of singing. The singers' role is very important with the guitar playing an accompaniment to the song. Today the solo guitar flamenco has developed into a separate art and is fashionably blended with jazz, blues and pop music.
Flamenco dance has complex patterns of rhythm and sophisticated footwork with the upper body emphasising grace and posture.
The songs of flamenco are from different regions as: Fandangos from Huelva; and Alegrias from Cadiz. There are two main styles in Flamenco: "jondo" - the serious and deep meaning, the cry of oppressed people; and "chico" happy, light and often humorous. The ideal in flamenco is called "duende" (demon or elf), which is a state of emotional involvement, group communication at a deep level and a feeling of sympathy, between musicians, dancers and listeners.
FOOD FIGHT?? ONLY IN SPAIN!!
The 'Tomatina' Tomato Fight
Surely the worlds' biggest food-fight: every year around 30,00 people descend on the Spanish town of Bunol (in the Valencia region of Spain) to throw more than 240,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other.
The festival is started with a ham-on-a-stick contest where competitors raced up a pole to retrieve a smoked leg of ham. When the ham is cut down, people put on eye protection and cry for tomatoes as trucks dump the squishy produce onto the village streets. They then proceed to pelt each other with them until all have been used up.
The festival on the last Wednesday of August is called 'the Tomatina' and is basically a town-wide tomato fight. It is thought the tradition began in 1945 when a fight erupted among two young members of a carnival crowd. A vegetable stall was nearby in the town square and every started throwing tomatoes at each other. Exactly one year later, young people met at the square, but this time with their own tomatoes. Another food-fight started but was broken up by police.
In the following years this practice was banned by the authorities, but due to popular demand was given official recognition in 1959. This was only to occur if participants would respect the start and the end of tomato-throwing being announced with a banger.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
CLIMATE OF SPAIN
temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast
LAND USE
agricultural land: 54.1%
arable land 24.9%; permanent crops 9.1%; permanent pasture 20.1%
forest: 36.8%
other: 9.1% (2011 est.)
ELEVATION EXTREMES
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands 3,718 m
NATURAL RESOURCES
COAL, LIGNITE, IRON ORE, COPPER, LEAD, ZINC, URANIUM, TUNGSTEN, MERCURY, PYRITES, MAGNESITE, FLUORSPAR, GYPSUM, SEPIOLITE, KAOLIN, POTASH, HYDROPOWER AND ARABLE LAND.
GEOGRAPHY OF SPAIN
ITS LOCATION IS: SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE, BORDERING THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, BAY OF BISCAY AND THE PYRENEES MOUNTAINS. SPAIN IS SOUTHWEST OF FRANCE.
AN ORIGINAL MOORISH GARDEN IN GRANADA.
A traditional Spanish Garden is a style of garden or designed landscape developed in historic Spain, incorporating principles and elements of garden design from precedents in ancient Persian gardens, Roman gardens and Islamic gardens, and the great Moorish gardens of the Al-Andalus era on the Iberian Peninsula. In the 20th and 21st centuries a 'Spanish Garden,' or new gardens in Spain, have continued, interpreted, abstracted, or departed from these traditional planning and aesthetic motifs.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Meeting: December 2
We had a great speaker, Maura Bulman. She was very knowledgeable about Spain. The cities of Spain sound very interesting. Excited to see the narrow streets of Toledo. Also, there are many windmills along the roads. Happy to hear about the value of the euro being so close to our dollar. I found the information about the Spanish schools was very interesting.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Our first meeting!!
Oct. 21, 2015: I just had my first meeting about Spain....met my fellow travelers....Katy led a great discussion about packing for the trip. Nicole was skyping from her classroom....excited already!! Can hardly wait!!
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