Feliz cumpleaños…

A mí! Or Feliç Anniversari in Catalan. Not that I’m happy about being this age (ugh!), but as they say, it’s better than the alternative, which is becoming statistically more likely each year.

Last week was another holiday I wasn’t prepared for – Día de la Hispanidad, the National Day of Spain, celebrating Spanish pride. It was created in 1892 to commemorate the four-hundredth year anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. Some establishments and businesses in Catalunya, however, refuse to celebrate the day because of their animosity towards the Spanish government, but many people take advantage of the day off of work, regardless of the reason for the holiday, which I found out when I went to run errands and places were closed.

This time in the fall is tied to other festivities in Catalunya. One is the Castanyada – the celebration of chestnuts on the evening of October 31st, when families eat a meal of chestnuts, sweet potatoes, marzipan-based ‘panellets,’ and preserved fruits. The symbol of the festival is an old peasant woman in a headscarf roasting chestnuts on the street. Vendors pop up on the streets of Barcelona, selling warm chestnuts wrapped in newspaper as well as roasted whole or halved sweet potatoes.  I hope to have some when I go to Barcelona for my haircut next week!

All Saints Day, based on ancient pagan traditions, is celebrated on November 1st to commemorate the souls of deceased family members. The custom is to visit the graves of loved ones to lay flowers.

Halloween is becoming more popular in Spain, with people of all ages dressing up in costumes and decorating their houses and businesses in scary decor. Some children even go trick-or-treating, or truco o trato in Spanish.  The China store has racks of Halloween costumes. This is only a small fraction of their stock in the photo below. But look who’s overseeing it all! Santa, of course!

Last week I led a hike for some unsuspecting members of the expat group. Even though I had previously scoped out a loop through a medieval town square and up through the hills past several wineries (where we did not stop), I got the group of 11 lost. Eventually we made our way around a vineyard that may have been private property, back to a route that would lead us home. What was supposed to be an 8 km walk turned into 12 km and we were an hour late for our lunch reservation, but all’s well that ends well! Everyone knows I’m directionally challenged! I should never have been allowed to lead!!

Here we are when fresh and we knew where we were.