As a nice tradition here on Easter Monday all families go out
into the countryside and have a picnic with paella and dance
”Sardanes”, the Catalan folklore dance.
The ”Mona” is a cake decorated with feathers and eggs and it
can also contain figures in chocolate.
“Munna” is an Arabic word that means "provision of the mouth,"
that the Moors gave as a gift to their master. Here it is a tradition
that the Godmother and the Godfather give a Mona to their
Godchildren on Easter Sunday. And if you don´t eat a Mona,
it seems that there is no Easter!!
Here in Torredembarrra we went up in the hills to Montornès, near a small village called
La Pobla de Montornès. There is a church on the top called l´ermita de Santa Maria de
Montornès.
We went there with 3 cars loaded with food and drinks and chairs
and 10 happy people. Frank and I, our cousin Antonieta, Anette
and Birgitta, Lena and family Maude and Arne and Kurt and Åsa.
So 8 Swedes and 2 Catalans. We were not the only ones with this
idea. Lots and lots of people kept coming with grandmothers, children,
oncles and teenagers, all carrying bags with food, wine, Coca Cola
and, of course, the most important of all: the Mona cake!!
The weather was lovely and warm and we gathered just under the church
and waited for the Mass to finish. The door of the church stood open and
the congregation was singing loud and clear and the song was mixed
with birds singing outside and children playing.
In the meantime we all sat down on the steps outside the church and the
special Sardanes orchestra (cobla) arrived.
The Mass was over and the orchestra began to play and immediatly several
persons began to dance the typical Catalan dance ”Sardana”.
Very popular and everybody can join. It reminds me a lot of the Greek
dances. One forms a ring and dance with the arms in the air holding
hands.
Our cousin Antonieta and Frank were dancing and eventually I dared
to go up and try. I need some training! Here you can see Frank in action:
A little man was dressed with the typical "barretina" in the head and had a branch of thyme in his mouth. He danced ALL dances!
Then it was time for food. We all sat down and had the most
delicious lunch consisting of Potatoe omelette ”Tortilla”, serrano ham,
escalivada, artichoke pie (Torta Pasqualina), pizza, and other nice
things.
Then it was time for paella!! A team from the village prepared it in huge pans and we enjoyed it with som
nice wine.
Kurt and Frank went to inspect that they prepared the paella in the right way!!
My contribution was pizza and an Italian pie "Torta Pasqualina", which is filled with artichokes,
ricotta, eggs and parmesan cheese and looks like this:
At this stage we were quite satisfied as you can understand, but now came
THE MONA and other cakes, chocolate and a sweet wine called
Moscatell and, finally, coffee.
What a day!! The sun was by now burning and some of us layed
down under the Carob tree and had a ”siesta”.
It was time to go home and a happy caravan of cars left down the
hill. I and Åsa decided to WALK home, to try to get rid of some
of the food. It was a very lovely walk through olive plantations and
fields full of flowers. The air was perfumed with thyme and rosemary
and birds were singing.
Sometimes life is really wonderful!! Eating outside in the nature
in company of loved ones and good friends!!
An Easter to remember!
