2006 Fiesta for San Ramón 31 Aug

Day 5 of 5
(Finally!)

The day starts with a mass at noon for the village’s patron saint, San Ramón Nonato.

Following the mass, the statue of San Ramón is taken on a procession around the village.

I guess it’s to let him see what has taken place over the last year, because it’s been a year since they have let him out of the church.










The procession winds it’s way through many of the streets of the village.


















Eventually finds it’s way past our house (the balcony on the left), then turns the corner and goes back inside the church.






Following the procession, the people all go home and change clothes.

They change into something more comfortable and reassemble in the Plaza Mayor around 2:pm where the paella is cooking.



The paella cooking in a pan that serves 500 people. There will be less than 500 people today because most of the vacationers have left to return to their respective cities where their children will start preparing to go to school in the next week or so.

(So, hopefully, there will be some left-overs!)






The paella is the same as last year – rabbit, chicken, and shrimp and saffron rice.












The people are served the paella in paper plates (actually they are plastic).



They gave out “healthy” servings, but some people still go back for seconds.







The people are queuing up to get their plate of paella.











This group of photos are the people that were sitting at our table. They are the people from our peña.

Here is the new addition to our peña. His name is Pedro, or “Pedrito” (Little Pedro). He is the new baby boy of Juan Carlos and Inma.












Although there was a lot of noise, people talking (and Spanish people don’t talk quietly!), laughing and even some singing, Pedrito slept through the whole thing!











Maribel and Rosi. Maribel lives in Barcelona, Rosi lives in the village.
























Rosi and her husband Pablo.














Annie and George.

They are from France but now live here in the village.











Radu and Helena (They are from Romania













Maria Rosa, Joaquin and their grandchildren













Rosa Mari and her husband Joaquin.












Little Carlos, the son of Miguel and Ana.


Ana is still in the village, but Miguel had to return to his job.











Little Carlos.

















The parents of Pedrito, Juan Carlos and Inma. They live in Alcañiz.












Juan Carlos and Inma.














None other than Jordi and Floyd.












This is about half of the people as they were finishing their meal.




The black netting is a sun screen to provide some shade in the Plaza Mayor so we don’t “bake” in the sun while eating. It really works well.

This shot shows most of the people at our table. We have finished eating and are too full to move!!











This is the Teen Peña where Héctor belonged.



These were the teenagers he hung out with during the Fiesta. Héctor is the one in the red shirt on the left side of the photo.



















The band started playing at 9:pm and played for a couple of hours. Took a break and started again at 1:am and play for another couple of hours.

Needless to say, I will not be there very long. We didn’t get to bed until 1:am in the morning and today (Thursday) was Jordi’s first day back at work. Which means we got up at 6:30am – short night!!

Jordi had to go to work Friday morning, so I’m sure he will want to go to bed very early tonight.

This will bring this Fiesta of San Ramón to a close. We will have a “dry spell” for about 4 months before we have another Fiesta – the Fiesta of San Anton around the 21 of January.

Oh, there will also be a Christmas party, a New Years Eve party and the 3-Kings celebration, but those are parties, not Fiestas.

I hope you have enjoyed the photos.

2006 Fiesta of San Ramón 21 Aug

DAY 4 of 5

Today we went to the Exhibit of Hand Crafts. The items have been on exhibition for four days and this was the last day. All of the items were made by people in the village. I wanted to exhibit some of my crochet work, but after I got a looked at some of the crochet items last year, I knew I was not in the same league as these people!!




This shows a small crocheted square made with very fine thread with a piece of linen in the middle, a large piece with open-thread work with a crochet trim, and some wooden boxes that have been finished and hand-painted.










Two views of a wooden kitchen utensil holder.















All of the utensils and the wooden holder have been hand carved.



















This photo is not too good because it doesn't show the detail.

But it is of some hand painted glass on wine bottles and some crocheted table clothes.







This is a hand painted table cloth and napkins.












This is a close-up of the painted border around the bottom of the table cloth. The detail was fantastic.










An old wooden frame for cross-stitch.












This is a refurbished measuring cup. These measuring cups came in all sizes and were used many years ago.











These are two old black-and-white photograhs that have been mounted in hand-made plasteer frames.


We know the pictures are old, because the river has not had that much water in it for about 40 years!!


























This is my favorite.


This little scarf is crocheted with very fine thread and was beautifully done. (See why I left my things at home?!?)











The band we had today is called the “Mambos Quartet.”





They lived up to their name, almost EVERYTHING was a mambo.

Oh, they threw in a waltz every once in a while, but then would go back to the mambos again.



The people are dancing in the Plaza Mayor again.







It’s really nice to see these old people dancing. You can tell they have been dancing together for many years.

(No stepping on each other’s toes with this group!)

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The rest of the photos show all the people in our peña. I’ll list their names (not that you would know them, but it makes them more personal).


Rosi with Pablo (her husband). Pablo is carving a leg of ham.


Tonight we are having for dinner – ham, cheese, sliced sausage, boiled shrimp, olives, asparagus, wine, liquor and sodas – it’s a cold dish night.





Miguel with his son, Carlos.

















José Miguel (from Grenoble, France), Pablo (Rosi’s husband) and Manolo (Lola’s husband).












Margaret, Colin (Margaret’s husband) and Ana Marie.

(Ana Marie is the sister of José Miguel and is
also from Grenoble, France. Ana Marie and José Miguel are Spanish, but born and live in France).




I hope you are keeping up with me and remembering the names and who is married to whom, because there will be a quiz at the end of these photos.

Now, let’s continue.



Lola (the wife of Manolo), Isabel and husband Miguel Angel.











Maria Jose (lives in Zaragoza), Maribel (lives in Barcelona) and Rosi (lives here in the village and her husband is Pablo).













Ana (wife of Miguel), their son Carlos, and Miguel.












Mario (the son of Pedro), and Pedro.












Jordi (the partner of Floyd), “Toño,” and “Pep” (the husband of Maria Antonia – who’s not here).


Maria Antonia had to go back to Cardedeu – (north of Barcelona) so she could go back to work.






Floyd and Jordi













Juan Carlos (His wife just had a baby; so, she couldn’t be here)
















Cesar, Irene (their daughter) and Silvia (wife of Cesar and mother of Irene)












A shot of everybody at the dinner table.












A shot of the lower level of our peña with the grill on the right side under the light.










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Now for the quiz (You can refer to your notes.)

1. Who is Lola married to?

2. Where does Maria Jose live?

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Hector, Jordi’s nephew, joined us at our peña around 1:30am and said he was tired and was ready to go home. I told him, “GREAT! I was tired also.” So, we said our good-bys and left for home.

Jordi made it home at 5:30am.

This is the end of Day-4 of the Fiesta. The 5th day will be on the 31st of August (San Ramón’s feast day).

But, no rest for the weary – now begins “Cultural Week!!”
(I am really starting to believe they are trying to kill us with all of these activities!!)

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CULTURAL WEEK:

23 August – A man from a near-by village will read some of his published poetry (of course it will be in Spanish – I think I will skip this one)

24 August – Cinema - A Spanish film (no subtitles) will be shown in the pista (school yard). It’s BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair).

25 August – Theater - A play for children. (I think I can skip this one also)

26 August – Cinema – Another Spanish film (no subtitles) will be shown in the pista. BYOC.

27, 28, 29, 30 August N-O-T-H-I-N-G !! (Oh, happy day! We get a rest period!)

31 August – The 5th day of the 5-day Fiesta of San Ramón.

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Hope you enjoyed the pictures and my journal. It’s been fun, but tiring at the same time. The next pictures and write-up will be on the 31st of August, when we wrap-up the Fiesta of San Ramón.

I’m not sure when the next Fiesta will be, but usually during a “dry spell,” we have a dinner at somebody’s house. So, it’s never boring around here -- and you never go hungry.