Recession deepens in Álora. No rise for Jésus for second year running.

Nearly everyone in Álora agrees that this year's Semana Santa (Holy Week) has been a great success. The weather was glorious for the whole week and all the main processions went off without a hitch; no collapsing balconies , no collapsing portadores (throne carriers) and the bars did a roaring trade, including the 'pop up' bars that suddenly appeared in shops, half built abandoned buildings, people's front rooms and the backs of vans, only to disappear just as suddenly before they could be asked to pay for licences, taxes, rents etc.

The Despedía (Farewell) attracted thousands of hungry and  thirsty people to Álora on Friday and all the bar owners are now walking around like Cheshire cats.
The Plaza Baja de la Despedía bathed in its one-day-a-year celebrity.
They came. They drank They dropped their cans and bottles and they left.

                                Plaza Baja de la Despedía. Viernes Santo 3.00 pm.

                                  Plaza Baja de la Despedía Viernes Santo 5.30pm.

Everyone has their favourite hermandads and cofradias and favourite moments of Semana Santa. Some just love the atmosphere, the heaving bars, the smell of incense, the near lethal roads splattered with candle wax, the toy drums bought by loving parents for their enthusiastic and insomniac little children which can be heard at all times of the day and night. I could go on.......

The main stars, as usual, were Jesús, el Señor de las Torres, and La Virgen de Dolores Coronada. We are very lucky living on Calle Benito Suarez (Calle Bermejo if you are over 80 years old) because nearly all the processions pass right by our door and we have the priviledge not only of having ringside seats but of being  serenaded by the drums and trumpets sometimes until 3.00am. when they return after a hard night's parading.

                                       El Señor de las Torres passing our house

                        La Virgen de Dolores Coronada just after passing our house.

                                                 Tommy loves a parade


For me, though, the unsung star of Semana Santa has been Juani from across the street. You may remember him from the previous issue of this organ.

                                                                     Juani

Juani is Álora's main enthusiast. He seems to be in all the parades, and apart from  Real Madrid Football Club, Semana Santa is his afición. He has a display of processions in miniature in his zaguán (entrance hall) and he was there right at the end yesterday when The Domingo de Resurrección procession was cancelled 'por lluvias' (because of rain).

          Juani (in Real Madrid shirt) and his museo with Mrs. Sánchez and  a little boy.

 

A small, but dedicated band of enthusiasts gathered in La Iglesia de la Encarnación for a group photo while the rain belted down (de cojones) outside.(Where's Juani?)

This is the second year running that rain has prevented Santísimo Cristo Resucitado  from making his progress through the town and bringing  Semana Santa to a close. The Domingo de Resurrección procession  is not the responsibility of any one hermandad or cofradia but is  a joint effort and all the heads of the various hermandades attend. All over  Spain Easter Sunday attracts very little interest,  although we had noticed that more people had been turning up than in past years. Perhaps it's because everybody has spent all their money. There are no Easter eggs here or chocolate bunnies and Monday is a normal day with all the banks and shops open.It would be a better idea, in my opinion, if they bought their kids chocolate eggs instead of drums, but where would they buy them?

To non- Spanish eyes the Semana Santa processions may appear deeply religious and very serious. They are THE main event of the year and nearly everybody seems to be involved. It is a great social occasion and brings together families and affiliated groups in a way not seen in the UK. Given that less that 25% of Spanish people attend church regularly these days (it's a lot less than that here from what I can see from my close vantage point) religion is not visibly an element in the Semana Santa parades although the Easter story and some of the characters are from the New Testament (Jesus, Mary, a donkey and St. John the Evangelist if you want to stretch a point) . The priest (NB one priest to 15,000 'catholics') does not seem to be involved except for the launch of Semana Santa and in the masses that take place in the church during the week. The processions look very serious, especially the last one on Friday night when all the lights go off in the town and hundreds of adults and children march slilently (apart from a drum of course) through the streets.

On the other hand there is some levity. Marchers, even the ones in hoods,  often call and wave to their friends, lots of posing for photographs takes place and smoking is allowed if you are carrying a throne as long as it's done during one of many rest stops (every ten yards).

And then there are the big hermandad dinners and general whooping it up in the bars. 

On Saturday afternoon my friend Chris and I were returning from a traditional 'Vuelta' round some of the more select Álora bars and we happened to pass by the sede (headquarters) of the the Dolores hermandad on Calle La Parra. The noisy hubbub and people outside the entrance signalled that there was some kind of a 'do' going on. As luck would have it Pepe D. was in the doorway and invited us in for a 'torrija', a traditional Semana Santa delicacy. 

                                                                    torrijas

Chris was keen to get home but was easily persuaded to go in and join the party. We were handed torrijas, cake and a steaming hot plastic beaker of hot chocolate which tasted like melted Cadbury's Dairy Milk. We had just missed the main event. The Dolores Hermandad had just enacted a pantomime version of the Despedía. Pepe showed us some pictures on his 'phone. Nothing serious about those scenes. And the 'director' of the whole performance had been Juani himself! still dressed in his Dolores Hermanded cassock. After some presentations and speeches led by Juani we resisted the many calls for us to stay and have a drink  went to look for Mrs. Sanchez and Mrs.Chris.

Roll on next Easter.

April 21st 2014