JimenaPulse
About Jimena de la Frontera, the province of Cadiz and Spain as a whole, focused on this small village in the mountainsArchive for HOLIDAYS
OF OLDNIGHT AND GRAPES
Nochevieja (oldnight, altogetherlikethat) is how New Year’s Eve is called in Spanish. There is one tradition in Spain that differs from others: las uvas (the grapes).
The tradition is owed not to any deep religious or cultural leftover, but to the economy, money and an excellent grape harvest. It was started in 1909 by grape growers who, in a fever of imagination, managed to get people to believe that eating one grape at each strike of the clock at midnight would bring good luck for the coming year – and they managed to get rid of a lot of grapes.
The idea is as follows: Depending on the number of your guests, you peel and seed twelve for each – small ones are easier to stuff down the gullet but hell to peel and seed. You then place them in front of each guest on a saucer. As the clock strikes, you, and they, take one into your mouth for each strike. Easy, isn’t it? Except that when it seems the clock is striking twelve it is probably striking los cuartos, or quarters, just before the twelve strokes of midnight. Still, it is great fun and a lot of laughs.
And by the way, you can buy little tins of twelve grapes ready peeled and seeded. But hurry or they’ll be gone. Don’t know about these grape growers…
OF DUST AND LARD
One of the most traditional customs of Spanish Christmas festivities, which don’t forget go on through the New Year to Epiphany (or Twelfth Night or Three Kings Day) on January 6th, is the inclusion at almost every get-together of sweet dishes such as those pictured above and most, if not all, come down to us from the Arabs.
Polvorones come at the top of the list. Read the rest of this entry »
OF BOXES AND BASKETS
Today is Boxing Day. Today is a holiday pretty much all over the English-speaking world (except the US) . The origins of the holiday go back to the Middle Ages, though not all opinions coincide. There are those who say that feudal lords and ladies gave boxes full of useful stuff like clothes and tools to their workmen’s families on the day after Christmas, while others put it the other way round: the work people gave the boxes full of small gifts to their lords and masters. Still others say that the day after Christmas was traditionally the day the ‘poor boxes’ were emptied in churches and the proceeds distributed among the poor.
Obviously, this time of year is one of gift giving, so there is no doubt a connection between the English-speaking world’s Boxing Day and the Spanish-speaking world’s cesta de navidad – or Christmas hamper. Even more obviously, there is a connection between these last two! If you’ve been lucky enough to get one or the other from your employer, we hope you are still enjoying it.
(Prospero comment: My employers, including JimenaPulse, are just plain mean…)
DARK CLOUDS AND SILVER LININGS
This was the scene from the Paseo early this morning. The river is flowing at last! And although the rain is inconvenient to most of us, there can be little doubt that we needed it badly.
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM AUSTRALIA
We received these pictures from Danny Webster, who lives we’ve forgotten where in Australia with his wife Larelle (please remind us, Danny!). This is their Christmas – jealous, aren’t we, with the weather we’re having right now? Please note the La Estrella t-shirt he’s wearing, acquired on his way through the village on a European tour. Jimena is everywhere!
And a Merry Christmas to you and Larelle, Danny!
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