Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Perpetual Holiday

ADÁN Y EVA (ADAM AND EVE), I PRESUME?
After breakfast this morning San Geraldo and I were going to walk over to a great office supply store I recently discovered in the neighborhood of El Arenal.

San Geraldo went upstairs to drop off his e-reader and I visited with Adela, Paula, and María at El Sanedrín. I said we were going to do a little shopping before the stores closed for siesta.

Adela looked confused and said, "Where are you going to shop today? It's a fiesta [holiday]. Everything's closed."

"What fiesta is it now?" I asked.

Adela said, "Constitution Day. And don't forget that Saturday is another fiesta, La Inmaculada Concepción. [The Immaculate Conception]."

I just checked and, yes, there will be a procession Saturday! It heads out from the Cathedral at 9:00 in the morning. I'll try to make it. I apparently missed today's procession from noon to 3. That was for La Virgén Pura y Limpia (The Virgin Pure and Clean... which I thought they all were).

We do need to do a better job of keeping track of our local, regional, and national holidays, when just about everything is closed. There's not much food in the house and San Geraldo had planned to go grocery shopping today. Instead, we had lunch at Los Niños Del Flor and dinner tonight will either be spaghetti or out. In the meantime, I'll just fantasize about the miniature "food" available around town.

AN ABUNDANCE OF MINIATURE PLASTIC FOOD...
... AND MINIATURE KITCHENWARE.
AND THEY'LL EVEN COOK IT FOR ME!

The annual "belén" (nativity scene) displays are in all their glory around town. The pre-Christmas belén market once again sprawls near the Cathedral and Archives. I have absolutely no religious interest in the creations, but I loved dioramas when I was a kid and could have an absolute ball with what I find here. I'd create at least one of my little worlds around the shamelessly naked Adán y Eva pictured at the opening of this post. Maybe I could buy dozens of them and create a miniature nudist colony with pools, hot tubs, and even a cocktail bar.


26 comments:

  1. Another day, another fiesta! I was wondering what the miniature food was for, and then I realized it was to cook in the miniature cookware! Thank you for sharing the sights and sounds of your home with me. It's nice to see Christmas without all the commercialism we have here. Happy Holidays to you and San Geraldo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jo:
      And to serve on the miniature plates on the miniature tables in the miniature houses! The detail is incredible.

      Unfortunately, enough commercialism here to go around, but not as much as we're used to... yet.

      Delete
  2. What an incredible assortment of miniatures! It would be a dollhouse makers dream. It seems like there are far too many holidays there in Sevilla.
    I think it might become tiresome and disruptive to daily life after a while. Or, maybe I'm just getting "set in my ways"!

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    Replies
    1. Ms. Sparrow:
      San Geraldo thinks they should just make December and January one big holiday. We simply need to get a calendar!

      Delete
  3. Those little figures of Adam and Steve (after Steve's surgery) are EXACTLY what we Hutsons look like in the womb. It's uncanny and very, very disturbing. Actually, they're not that dissimilar to the way we look after we're born too, and into early old age. But we're slightly taller of course.

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    Replies
    1. Owl Wood:
      I can't believe Steve PAID for those.

      Imagine. I think the Hutsons are so adorable I want to create an entire community of naked ones!

      Delete
  4. I think, rather than keeping track of where there's a fiesta, it might be easier to monitor when there are NO fiestas.

    Still, I does love a parade!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the photographs of the displays. Very interesting.
    There are a lot of things one can buy here in Germany (especially down south) for building up the crib. At the Christmas markets they sell a lot of them too but all are made of wood for the most part.

    They are in the midst of building the nativity here in our village. It is in the basilica and is built up little by little over the Christmas period - ending some time after Epiphany. I do like things like that!

    Kirk

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    1. Kirk:
      I love the idea of building the village slowly like that. El Corte Inglés (the department store) has their annual belén in the window. We thought the baby Jesus was missing and that it was planned that way (that he would arrive on Christmas Day). We couldn't understand, however, why the Three Kings were already there with their gifts. We were wrong. We just didn't look closely enough.

      Delete
  6. Is that animated scene at the end a window display? I love all those minatures and would have really enjoyed them when I was a child. Wonder how many days in December are fiesta days?

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  7. So, Adam had a beard!?
    You know, I am sure there must be a calendar available that has all these holy holidays all marked out. If not, then what a business venture for you?
    Look at all those miniatures! I could like that!

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    Replies
    1. Jim:
      There are so many calendars available. I check after-the-fact online. Maybe "after-the-fact' is the problem.

      That Adam has very strangle placed hair.

      Delete
  8. Oh! Please do, please do! I want to see the Sevilla Nudist Colon-ita! :)

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    1. Judeet:
      See The Owl Wood's comment and my reply above. I'm thinking of naming my nudist colony The Owl Woodie!

      Delete
  9. When my children were little and my cousin was living in Madrid in the 70s, she sent us several things like this, but everything was made out of sugar, not plastic. I wonder if that is still available.

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    1. Kristi:
      Oh, yeah, I think you may have mentioned this last year and I did see them around town (they even have hooded penitents in sugar for Holy Week). I'll get some pictures to bring back your sweet memories.

      Delete
  10. Oh I love tiny things and dioramas!! If it didn't cost so much, I would totally be creating a bunch of them just for fun. I sigh over the dollhouse stuff at the craft store all the time. Tiny furniture is the best!

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    1. Jenners:
      I'm really glad we stopped collecting things before moving here. I would be all over those items (and would be broke as well). I fell in love with the rocking chair in the last shot. And they fountains and ponds, and every kind of tree, shrub, and flower you can imagine.

      Delete
  11. My dioarama was Robin Hood oriented...I loved this set....it amused me for hours!
    Ron

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    1. Ron:
      Wow. I created my own dioramas always for school science projects and I love created underwater scenes in my fish tanks. Never as elegant as an official Robin Hood set. Too bad. I always had kind of a thing for Little John.

      Delete
  12. Aw! I love the miniature belén pieces! They're so fun! I keep thinking they would've been great for the days when I played with Barbie. She would've had everything she ever needed!

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    Replies
    1. Brittany:
      And the most amazing stuff for a doll's house, too. One of our neighbors builds the entire city of Bethlehem in the large central hall of his home. I would create my own little fantasy village.

      Delete
  13. Victor:
    I'd never seen anything quite like it before coming here. There are stores all around town that sell the stuff all year. And this holiday market is amazing. We don't have a Christmas/Winter village, but it sure is tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hmm, Eve is considerably more endowed than Adam!!!

    I love visiting markets when we travel. Thanks for the virtual tour.

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    Replies
    1. Knatolee:
      I could spend days in these holiday markets. In years past, I would have bought one of everything just because it was there. Amazing that I can still enjoy it all without taking any of it home.

      Yep, it looks to me like Eve got the short end of the stick (so to speak).

      Delete

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