(note: freaky in spanish means weird)
Hola!!!
So October 31st is a very special day for Spaniards because it's the day that the mariquelo (orignally the person who is responsible for ringing the cathedral bells) climbs the tower of the old Cathedral. On October 31st 1755 there was a huge earthquake (9 on the Richter Scale) called El terremoto de Lisboa. The people of Salamanca took refuge in the new cathedral, attached to the old one, and prayed that the building would not collapse on them. Surprisingly the only damage to come from the event was the inclination of the tower (belonging to the old cathedral) slightly to the right. After the tremors subsided, the mariquelo climbed to the top of the tower to check that everything was okay with the building, and rang the bells at the top to thank God that the nothing collapsed And so began the tradition of the mariquelo, which has continued without fail every year since 1755.
.
At 11:00 the mariquelo rides through the plaza to the cathedral accompanied by traditionally dressed dancers and musicians.
Then there was a large period of waiting around and being entertained by the various musicians as the mariquelo began his climb inside the tower from the bottom. He then pokes his head out of the clock to talk to all of us waiting in the plaza below him and explains the history of the tradition. At 12:00 sharp he rings all of the smaller bells 12 times in total, and climbs to the next level to ring the biggest bell 12 times.
Now here's the good part. He climbs out the window and begins scaling the dome of the old cathedral tower to reach the highest bell! It was so cool and I really wanted to do it too, but unfortunately security wouldn't let me for some lame reason like liability and safety...all I really heard was "No...blah. blah. blah." But really, can you imagine how cool it would be to come home and say "I climbed the tower of the old cathedral mom!"
Finally he rings the bell, reads a prayer to thank god that the inclination has not gotten worse, sings a traditional song about loving Salamanca/Spain, screams Viva Salamanca! Viva Castilla y Leon! Viva Espana! (with the entire crowd below him of course), and then releases a gazillion doves as a symbol of wishing for world peace in the years to come. He climbs down as all of us below applaud him in his success.
The End.
So if we are judging my Halloween by the uniqueness of it all, then I would say it was pretty special. But in terms of having a real Halloween, well the fact is that it truly is a Hallmark (and Nestle) holiday. No one celebrates it here, or even dresses up, except the littlest kids. And even that is a brand new tradition that did not start until a couple of years ago with the Americanization of a perfectly good society.
But luckily my program threw a Halloween party and a pumpkin carving contest! I spent three hours working on this masterpiece and I am pretty proud of myself. The winner will be announced on Monday, so we'll see how it goes haha.
Later that night, I dressed up in masquerade (which was super easy because the tienda de los chinos had these fun masks for 2 euros!). I think the worst part of it all was the fact that Kathleen (who dressed up like Kate Middleton) and I were the only ones in costume walking down the street, besides the five-year-old kids with terrifyingly grotesque masks. Halloween is very scary here.
After the party Kathleen and I walked around the Plaza Mayor, just enjoying the night when we noticed that there were cafes still open even though it was 1 am! So we found one that looked good and tried ordering hot chocolate. Well we made a very foreign error that had us laughing the entire night. When ordering we asked for chocolate caliente which literally means hot chocolate, as in melted chocolate in a cup with a spoon. To ask for the hot chocolate we were expecting, we should have said cola cao. But it's okay because I'm a flexible person and who would want melted chocolate at 1:30 in the morning?! (service can be exceptionally slow here sometimes) It was every bit as delicious as you are probably imagining and I have no shame in saying that I will probably order it again before I leave. I'm pretty sure you are supposed to order it with churros and dunk them inside...oops, however I prefer to believe that I'm not in a cafe in Spain but rather Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Do you think Augustus Gloop would settle for anything less? I think not, and therefore why should I? :p
Ending the night on a perfectly sweet note (ba dum chhhhh) we walked home, snuck inside our respective apartments (careful not to wake our host moms), and crashed in bed.
Happy Halloween!!!!
Love,
Carolyn
(btw photo credits of the mariquelo goes to various websites from google)
Hola!!!
So October 31st is a very special day for Spaniards because it's the day that the mariquelo (orignally the person who is responsible for ringing the cathedral bells) climbs the tower of the old Cathedral. On October 31st 1755 there was a huge earthquake (9 on the Richter Scale) called El terremoto de Lisboa. The people of Salamanca took refuge in the new cathedral, attached to the old one, and prayed that the building would not collapse on them. Surprisingly the only damage to come from the event was the inclination of the tower (belonging to the old cathedral) slightly to the right. After the tremors subsided, the mariquelo climbed to the top of the tower to check that everything was okay with the building, and rang the bells at the top to thank God that the nothing collapsed And so began the tradition of the mariquelo, which has continued without fail every year since 1755.
.At 11:00 the mariquelo rides through the plaza to the cathedral accompanied by traditionally dressed dancers and musicians.
Then there was a large period of waiting around and being entertained by the various musicians as the mariquelo began his climb inside the tower from the bottom. He then pokes his head out of the clock to talk to all of us waiting in the plaza below him and explains the history of the tradition. At 12:00 sharp he rings all of the smaller bells 12 times in total, and climbs to the next level to ring the biggest bell 12 times.
Now here's the good part. He climbs out the window and begins scaling the dome of the old cathedral tower to reach the highest bell! It was so cool and I really wanted to do it too, but unfortunately security wouldn't let me for some lame reason like liability and safety...all I really heard was "No...blah. blah. blah." But really, can you imagine how cool it would be to come home and say "I climbed the tower of the old cathedral mom!"
Finally he rings the bell, reads a prayer to thank god that the inclination has not gotten worse, sings a traditional song about loving Salamanca/Spain, screams Viva Salamanca! Viva Castilla y Leon! Viva Espana! (with the entire crowd below him of course), and then releases a gazillion doves as a symbol of wishing for world peace in the years to come. He climbs down as all of us below applaud him in his success.
The End.
So if we are judging my Halloween by the uniqueness of it all, then I would say it was pretty special. But in terms of having a real Halloween, well the fact is that it truly is a Hallmark (and Nestle) holiday. No one celebrates it here, or even dresses up, except the littlest kids. And even that is a brand new tradition that did not start until a couple of years ago with the Americanization of a perfectly good society.
But luckily my program threw a Halloween party and a pumpkin carving contest! I spent three hours working on this masterpiece and I am pretty proud of myself. The winner will be announced on Monday, so we'll see how it goes haha.
Later that night, I dressed up in masquerade (which was super easy because the tienda de los chinos had these fun masks for 2 euros!). I think the worst part of it all was the fact that Kathleen (who dressed up like Kate Middleton) and I were the only ones in costume walking down the street, besides the five-year-old kids with terrifyingly grotesque masks. Halloween is very scary here.
After the party Kathleen and I walked around the Plaza Mayor, just enjoying the night when we noticed that there were cafes still open even though it was 1 am! So we found one that looked good and tried ordering hot chocolate. Well we made a very foreign error that had us laughing the entire night. When ordering we asked for chocolate caliente which literally means hot chocolate, as in melted chocolate in a cup with a spoon. To ask for the hot chocolate we were expecting, we should have said cola cao. But it's okay because I'm a flexible person and who would want melted chocolate at 1:30 in the morning?! (service can be exceptionally slow here sometimes) It was every bit as delicious as you are probably imagining and I have no shame in saying that I will probably order it again before I leave. I'm pretty sure you are supposed to order it with churros and dunk them inside...oops, however I prefer to believe that I'm not in a cafe in Spain but rather Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Do you think Augustus Gloop would settle for anything less? I think not, and therefore why should I? :p
Ending the night on a perfectly sweet note (ba dum chhhhh) we walked home, snuck inside our respective apartments (careful not to wake our host moms), and crashed in bed.
Happy Halloween!!!!
Love,
Carolyn
(btw photo credits of the mariquelo goes to various websites from google)
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