Traditions and Technicolour dresses

When I was a kid, people used to bring these flamenco dresses back from Spain as souvenirs. The bold colours and whimsical patterns were enough to fill one with embarrassment. So just imagine how surprised I have been to discover that they take them very seriously. In all their Techicoloured polkadotty g(l)ory.

Torremolinos

Torremolinos

They are particulary prominently worn for ferías, city festivals. Especially the one in Malaga fills the streets with very colourful people every July. 

One of my favourite things about Malaga is the buzz of all those narrow tapas bar streets. As people are leaving the restaurants, meeting their friends, catching up, laughing, having a cigarette the air is bubbling with joy and bursting with ecitement - it's as if every weekend is a feria!

Malaga

It also attracts in hoardes of tourists to admire the festivities. Unfortunately some of them do not deserve to be captured on camera...

Malaga

Another thing that has surprised me about the dresses is the price tag. Despite the appearance they are not cheap. Many have theirs made and the price can go up to hundreds of euros. They are then accessorized with fans, flowers (plastic, of course!) and a variety of head dresses. The tallest concoctions are about a foot in height. In Malaga Calle Granada and Calle Calerería, the streets also famous for the tapas bars are also full of little shops specialized in these.

Malaga

Malaga

Marbella

This post marks the 6-month-anniversary of this blog. Can't believe it's been half a year!  A grande gracias for all of you for being on this journey with us! 

Don't forget we're also on Pinterest and Facebook, where you'll also find footage of the not-so-glorious moments in the kitchen and life of a foodblogger...

Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Madonna, Muhammed and Buddha

Catholic faith is very much present in Spain. There are churches and chapels everywhere you look. I find some of the forms religion takes here downright creepy.

Crucified Jesus surrounded by a fence imitating thorns in middle of the post-lunch siesta bliss...

Cordoba

...the altars dedicated to worshipping virginity and other ideals forever unattainable for real women...

Marbella

... Jesus crying in his glass-boxed home altar...

Marbella

... crosses greeting oblivious explorers in the middle of nowhere...

El Chorro

That's only the beginning of the religious diversity. These days Costa houses more and more large mosques. But the most peculiar addition to this smörgåsboard of religions would have to be the Buddhist stupa in Benalmadena.

The place, inaugurated in 2003 is used for meditation among other purposes. Stupas are regarded as three-dimensional manifestations of enlightenment. They have a soothing and protective purpose and they are believed to transform the outside world's ignorance-inflicted suffering into joy and happiness brought forth by enlightenment.

The paintings of the sanctuary are the handiwork of Nepalese artists.

The stupa is surrounded by mandalas, paintings symbolizing enlightenment and cosmos...

...and the trees around it are adorned with prayer flags.

Bullfight, bullshit

My first exposure to all things Spanish in my childhood was without a doubt that plastic bull dangling around the neck of a bottle of Sangre de Toro. And the bull has become quite a symbol to Spain and Andalusia in particular. In 1956 Osborne sherry built a massive advertising campaign around it. 500 giant bulls were put up around the streets of Spain until in 1994 roadside advertising was banned as a threat to road safety. The bulls were destined to be destroyed, but the people of Andalusia fought back - the bull had cemented its status as a key cultural figure. Osborne-references were removed, but the bulls stayed put. 89 of them still remain today.

The Spanish Supreme Court declared the bull as a national cultural symbol and the bull sure has paid the price for this. Once Catalan separatists sawed the legs off the bull in Barcelona as a protest. The one in Mallorca, too, has suffered in the hands of various separatist movements. In Galicia a group campaigning for local independence painted their bull orange. 

Culture is a funny thing. At its worst it is used to justify things that seem absurd to the sense of justice of yours truly. Such as female circumcision. And honour killings. And karaoke. 

One thing about Spain I'll never understand is the bullfighting. Bullfighters are respected and revered and in many traditional tapas bars entire walls are devoted to the most legendary ones. The fights are still regularly organized and many of the villages nearby have their own arenas. 

Some years ago I talked The Gentleman into taking me to one of them. Cheap fun it ain't - tickets for two cost around a hundred euros. And wasted the money was, seeing how I spent most of the time at the bar downstairs, upset beyond imagination. The Gentleman could not believe I genuinely had had no idea what we were in for and never gets tired of pointing out how googling would have cost a lot less.

Well, I know now. And I'm in no rush to ever go back again. I still don't know which infuriated me the most - the way the bull is bullied around for absolutely no reason or the fact that the bully, echoing such supreme masculinity in the local ethos, is a figure that in those pink tights looks more camp than Boy George at a drag bingo...

Carnaval in Ronda

Last weekend the streets everywhere in Spain were taken over by the carnaval, a celebration preceding the Lent. We celebrated it in Ronda, where the festival had gone on all week. Pancakes were nowhere to be found, children in fancy dresses on the other hand were everywhere.

The sight of this little girl, opting out of the cookie-cutter Disney princess outfit particularly warmed this old Egyptologist's heart...!

Life here is very family- oriented and it's especially evident during celebrations like this. Children are a natural part of the proceedings and included in the long lunches that are an essential part of the celebrations. 

For some of the grown ups kitted out in fancy dresses the celebrations continued well into the night...