It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Easter
Azahar on our lemon tree
The air around here is heavy with the wonderful scent of the orange and lemon trees which are in flower. The weather is warm and sunny and the bees are taking advantage of the good flying conditions. Although lemons (limones), oranges,(naranjas) limes (limas) and grapefruit (pomelos) have very differerent appearances and tastes, they are all citrus fruits (citron medica) and their blossom looks and smells the same. You can grow them all on the same tree. The Spanish name for the blossom of all four is azahar and is unmistakably an arabic word, like azafrán (saffron) and azafata (air hostess). There used to be a perfume factory in Álora which made perfume from the oils of the oranges and lemons. The building is still there, down by the station. It was a 'nitespot' for a time and made a lot of noise on Saturday nights.
There is a very good bar in Álora called Cafetería Azahar which is run by a nice lady called Candelaria and does very good bacon sandwiches. There is a street here which is lined for most of its 400 metre length with orange and lemon trees and at the moment is a joy to walk down. It is called Calle Cantarranas which translates as 'The street of the singing frogs'. There is another street called Calle Naranjos (orange trees) which is treeless. Where's the sense in that?
Lemons are of Persian origin and were brought to Spain by the the Arabs and Berbers (Moors) who invaded Spain from Morocco in 711AD. They stayed until 1492AD. That's nearly 800 years.
We've got a limonero in our garden which looks as though it might be one of the originals. At the moment it's in blossom and has two kinds of lemons on it because lemon trees fruit twice a year. The lemons are a different shape.
Early lemon
Late lemon
The 'late' lemons are dropping off now and we should be picking the early ones but we just can't give them away. They are 30p each in Sainsburys at the moment (earlies) so if you fancy jumping on a plane with a big empty bag, you can have as many as you like. The late ones with the lump at the end have thicker skins but they are both great when you mix them with gin,tonic and ice.
When the Moors invaded Spain it was ruled by Visigoths (pronounced Bizigoths in Spanish). The Visigoths, led by King Roderick ,didn't put up much of a fight and in eight years the muslim conquerors had occupied Spain and Portugal and parts of France. The Visigoths haven't left much behind for us to remember them by. They did make some pretty jewellery and a few of their churches remain and they had nice writing too.
Visigoth church
Visigoth writing
Visigoth brooches
Something must have kept them busy apart from building churches, making ornaments, worrying about the immigration problem and trying to look like Robert Smith out of The Cure.
Semana Santa (Holy Week) has kicked off in earnest today. The Plaza Baja was crammed a week ago with thousands wanting to see Jesus de Las Torres being carried up to the little chapel at the castle where he will stay until Jueves Santo (Maundy Thursday). Meanwhile this morning, Domingo de Ramos, (Palm Sunday) another version of himself left the church atop a donkey followed by his mum María Santísima de Amparo Auxilidora. They should be coming back any minute now and will pass our front door. Tonight he will set off again tied to a column. I can hear the sound of drums. La Pollinica approaches.
Here he comes. The palm tree moves with him.
Here's Juani. He seems to be in all the processions.
He supports Real Madrid and reminded me that they lost to Atlético last week during his break from being a portalero. His mum must spend a fortune on costumes and uniforms.
During the week both Jesus and Mary will appear on tronos (thrones) in an apparently limitless variety of guises all over Spain. In Álora we have The Virgin of Pain (crowned), the Virgin of the Auxiliary Refuge, the Virgin of Souls, the Virgin of Love and the Virgin of PIty.
In Málaga they have Jesús El Rico (Jesus the Rich) who deserves a special mention. Every Wednesday of Semana Santa he is allowed to pick a prisoner to free from jail as long he (or she) joins the El Rico procession. The Hermano Mayor (Senior Brother) of the 'El Rico' hermandad (brotherhood) makes the choice along with the governor of the prison. The lucky pardon this year went to 'SC' who lives near the prison in Alhaurin el Torre (when he's not in prison that is).
I went up to Bar El Toro to watch Barcelona get eliminated from the European Champions' League the other night. A few ex pats were there including Walter who waits for gaps in the match to bang on about what's wrong with England these days, which is a popular subject of conversation among many of the Brits. 'Can you tell me why Germany can expel 500 foreigners a day and we can't expel any?' It was not a rhetorical question. 'Are you asking me as an expert on immigration and border controls?' I asked, while trying to prepare an answer. By 'we' he meant all the people who still live in the UK, which he doesn't, but I let that one go. 'There won't be any white men left in England soon'. 'Well you started it', I quipped 'by coming here'. It went wide of the mark.. He continued. 'Look at Man. United. Nearly all black players. In forty years this'll be a muslim country'. For a moment he forgot he was a Spanish Resident and was back in the country he abandoned ten years ago because it had 'gone to the dogs'. I took a chance with, 'Well perhaps the Spanish should expel 500 foreigners a day, too. There's hardly any Spaniards left on the Costa del Sol and anyway you're living a country that was a muslim country for nearly 800 years.'
As the game restarted I wondered if in 671AD. King Roderick the Visigoth took a break from making pretty earings to worry about Spain becoming a muslim country in 40 years time.
Jesus Tied to a Column has just passed our front window. Time for a G&T. I'll go out and pick a lemon.
April 18th 2014
Does anyone leave any comments?
ReplyDeleteSo it would appear.
ReplyDeleteAs ever, extremely informative Juanito, thank you. However, it should be pointed out that Calle Naranjos is in fact called Calle JUAN Naranjos which would probably go someway to explaining the "sense in that".
ReplyDeleteIf you could enlighten us on whether this street name is referring to perhaps 'John of Orange', a local dignitary or some other historic figure then we, el residentes, would be most grateful. Actually, thinking about it, most of the other residents probably know the answer already so its just us you'd be informing!
TTFN
Do you mean Los (or even Las) residentes? You are correct. Juan Naranjos (17??-1805) was a writer, born in Álora who is remembered for the unusual stipulations he left in his will. He left 200 masses to be said for his soul and asked that he be buried wearing three hats; one for each of the women he had wronged in his life. The masses kept the local priest in cake and fine wine for several years and as the local custom here is to allow every priest of the Parroquía to name a street, he chose Juan Naranjos. I hope this has been helpful and I apologise for the lateness in replying but I rarely find myself with so little to do that IU can address pressing matters like this one.
Delete¡Manda guevos!