Rocking Your World 2019: Week 49

Well I am glad to say I am feeling much more cheerful this week. I am not completely free of the virus, but feel well enough to get into all my usual activities again.

My friend Margie, who is our lay reader at church, posts an encouraging message on our church facebook page most days. One day last week she posted this, and I thought it was very pertinent to the ethos of this post I do each week. So I am counting my blessings, happy that I am on the mend, and grateful that I can be involved in all the Christmas activities around here, and I am getting to spend time with my family this holiday too.

Christmas is in the air and that always lifts my spirits. It has been grey and rather wet this week, but on Monday the men were up a ladder outside our house and when they had left I went out to find we had a dear little angel light hanging from the telegraph pole. I am pretty sure this is the one we had last year too so maybe they have invested in a set for the village instead of renting different ones each year.

I was further surprised when I went up to the Farmacia this evening and found her already lit up. This is really unusual, as sometimes the lights don't get switched on until a few days before Christmas. I assumed this was because they stay on until after the Three Kings fiesta on 6th January. 

We also have very pretty rows of stars strung across our street at intervals. I really can't remember whether these are the same as last year, but either way they look lovely on a dark night. I also don't know whether this is just a try out, or whether they are on for the duration of the holiday. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

We were warned that another 'gota fria' was heading our way. This more or less translates as a 'cold spell', and sure enough, on Monday the temperature dropped by 10º, and the sky was heavy with dark clouds. By night time heavy rain started, and persisted all night and then carried on all day on Tuesday. As it happened I was quite poorly again for one day on Tuesday. I had a stiff neck and sore throat, but it was gone again by the next day so that was good. Anyway, it was clear I wouldn't be going out anyway, so I spent the day finishing putting up my Christmas decorations.

I love my tree. Believe it or not I have had the same one for around 40 years. I remember we had just moved to Northolt, and my second son, then around 10 years old, came to South Harrow with me on the bus, to buy this from Woolworths, and he helped me balance it on the open platform that were the norm on buses in those days, all the way home! Could I get any more decorations on it? Some of them are as old as the tree, while other have been added over the years. Many are home made, others are mementos bought on holiday, such as Mary and Joseph bought in Arizona, and a silver wreath from Ireland. Almost all of them hold a story and that is why I love it so much.

Of course I found a space to again hang the bauble wreath I made a few years ago. Once again it needed a few repairs with my glue gun, but I had some spares left over, so it was soon put back together. It looks so cheerful, and I still love it.

Our son Tom has lived in Denmark for several years now and last year I visited him at this time so I brought back a few typically Danish decorations. These little creatures were in all the shops so I had to have some of them.

They are really rather cute.

There is even a tiny Danish flag amid the branches of the tree.

I remember I was rather shocked by the total lack of nativity characters or scenes in Denmark. But here in Spain it is completely the opposite. Most of the decorations depict a part of the Christmas story. Every village and city has at least one Belén. The word means Bethlehem but it used for the huge nativity scenes that are seen in marquees on town squares, in churches and on peoples porches outside their homes. They not only depict the stable, but cover all aspects of life at the time. The scenery expands over time, and the characters are often added to each year, while others are passed down from one generation to the next. Here is the one that is being prepared in the church up in Mojacar Pueblo.

If you look close enough you will see the stable in a cave.

And all around are the people getting on with their daily life, like this weaver, or a girl feeding the chickens, a man digging his vegetable patch. No-one is left out.

There is another character in there somewhere, but I'll tell you about him at the end.

I decided I would go to church on Sunday as I was feeling a bit better then, and it was looking lovely with the decorations up for the first Sunday in Advent. During the week, a small band from our congregation had been there to work together and they did a grand job. (Not my photos as I wasn't there!)

Today, for some more Christmas cheer, I went to a small Christmas market held at the local campsite. It is where I bought my 'hippy'shoes last year and I was hoping to get a blue pair, but sadly the lady wasn't there this year. However I talked to couple of stall holders who told me of another regular market that she often has a stall at, so I will try to get to that in the next couple of weeks.

It was still enjoyable to have a wander round today and look at the stalls. Many of them featured hand made items. There are some very talented folk around. Sadly I didn't see too many people buying them. So many of the folk in our community are getting on in years, and no longer bother with a tree or lots of decorations, especially if they are visiting family in UK for the holiday week, or going to spend a few nights in a hotel. We are more of a stay at home couple, so I like to decorate our house just like I always have done. But I wasn't really looking to buy more things to hang on my already well-loaded tree. However, I did buy pasties for our dinner tomorrow, and a bottle of very delicious, artisan chocolate mint liqueur. The menacing clouds put some people off I think, though it did just stay dry for the morning. The stalls were all outside so we needed warm clothes on, but there was still quite a good number of folk there.

And that is about it for me this week, but I am just going to share a little story that might interest you and make you smile. Our local radio station, also runs a Facebook page about local events, and this week they have shared each day the story behind one of the Spanish Christmas traditions. They love their traditions here, and some of them are quite strange, and for me, this is one of the strangest. I quote from their page: -

"The caganers or 'crappers' are a popular nativity scene decoration in Catalonia, where a defecating figure perched behind Mary and Joseph is said to symbolize fertilization, as well as bringing luck and prosperity for the year ahead.

Visit any Catalan home at Christmas and you will find what appears to be an interloper hiding among the traditional figures around the crib in the nativity scene.

Joseph and Mary will be in pride of place around the manger gazing adoringly at baby Jesus in the nativity scene or Belén that is traditionally set up in many homes at Christmas.

The three Kings will likely be in attendance, along with a group of shepherds and a set of traditional farmyard animals.

But look closer and you will spy a figure squatting with pants down, bare bottom raised over a little brown pile of poo – glance up at the face and chances are it's a figure you recognise.

Some families like to use the same figure year after year, often a character that has been passed down through the generations, and quite likely the traditional Catalan figure of a young peasant dressed in white sporting a red barretina and a pipe.

Traditional caganers are made from clay, fired in a kiln and then hand-painted.

But as the caganer has evolved into a huge industry and now all sorts are produced, both in design and material.

There is a growing trend to purchase a new figure each year – a trend that is proving profitable for a handful of artisans who produce the figures each year.

Modern crappers represent public figures of the moment, from politicians to sporting heroes.

Cartoon characters, literary figures, film icons can all be found on the shelves of stalls selling caganers.

No-one is above the cheeky satire that sees celebrities bare their bottoms and perform a call of nature from Queen Elizabeth II to Pope Francis.

Not surprisingly, the Donald Trump figure has been a best-seller for the last few years and is set to top the crapping charts again in 2019."

Although it says this is a Catalan tradition, these figures are often seen in Beléns locally here as well. Here is a picture of the traditional peasant, and one of a shelf in a Belén shop, where you can choose from a wide range of characters.

Isn't that just the most bizarre idea?!

So on that rather weird note I will go and link up with Rocking Your World on Virginia's blog, and Annie's Friday Smiles.