Spanish views from a small town

It was a holiday yesterday, the Día de la Hispanidad, better known as Columbus Day in the U.S. Here, it's a patriotic day, more than anything to celebrate Spain, with a military parade and flyover in Madrid, which the King and the government ministers preside. This year, there was the bare bones of one, celebrated in the large courtyard in front of the royal palace in Madrid. But all the dignitaries showed up, even Republican, quite-left-of-center Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos. He had no other choice, however, since he and his party form part of the government. Anything else would have been exulted in by extremist-right Vox. Which held its own parade in the rich neighborhood of Salamanca, in Madrid. There, the neighbors and supporters drove around in their cars, beeping horns, waving giant flags, and crying out their signature cry of "Gobierno dimisión!" to show their displeasure. At the end of last week, they also held protests against the regional state of alarm dec...

Pick a date on the calendar. Now, choose your poison. Today you have mussels in Rianxo, Albariño wine in Cambados, German sausages and beer in Sanxenxo, sardines in Teis, tortilla in Laro (Silleda), bonito in Burela, peppers in Arnoia, razor clams in Fisterra, horse mackerel in Chaín (Gondomar), roast pork ribs on a spit in San Clemente (Caldas de Reis), roast ham in Mondaríz, and octopus in O Carballiño. Apart from that, if you're not hungry, you have various different traditional, religious festivals that turn into musical nights in tons of different parishes. Then there is a medieval fair in Ferrol, the Cultural Week that ends today in Zas, a beach party in Ézaro, a motorcycle concentration in Vilagarcía, and the disembarkment of the Vikings in Catoira. And I know I'm missing stuff from the list, such as the book fair in A Coruña which I think is this week.  August is the month on which Spaniards have traditionally gone on vacation. There are still factories that turn thin...

Ah, Valentine's Day! The day on which florists sell almost as many flowers as on All Saint's Day. The roses they don't sell in November they sell today. Even more expensively. The shelves where the chocolates are displayed in supermarkets and pastry stores are empty. I assume dentists also welcome this practice.  I'm not putting down the festivity. I also celebrate it, and happily. Though it doesn't always have a monetary component for us. Stores wouldn't like our generally consumer-free celebrations. And that's how this holiday began in Spain. In 1948 a Madrid department store long-defunct, Galerías Preciados, introduced a new holiday. In a newspaper ad on February third, Galerías Preciados announced, "¿Cómo no augurar en España el más brillante éxito para el Día de los Enamorados? ¡Sábado, 14 de febrero!" (How to not foretell the most brilliant success in Spain for the Day of Lovers? Saturday, February 14th!) From the beginning it was touted as...

Yesterday I saw the chestnut roaster installed in the town where I do my weekly shopping. The smell of the burning wood and the sight of the vendor rolling newspaper into cones confirmed that we are well into the autumn season. He's already been there for the past few Saturdays, but yesterday I noticed him more keenly. Every fall I go hunting down lanes and byways for the greenish brown burs filled with chestnuts. I have learned to push and pull with my feet to open them and thus avoid the sharp needles. The chestnuts, roly-poly shining brown, lie scattered around, escaped from burs that fell earlier and split open. Generally I feel lucky if I can gather a half kilo for an evening of roasting. Yes, it would be easier to go to a greengrocer's or a supermarket and just fill a bag from the pile, but it's not the same. There's something about scavenging for autumn fruits that is anciently human and makes you feel good when you have found a quantity that satisfies you.  ...