Good Friday I had the honour to be one of the 3 Marias following the cross in the Procession.
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| Photos by Marta Recasens |
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| Frank's cousin Nuria helped us to dress and put on the special comb and mantilla! |
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| Here we are: my friends Pilar, Mari Carmen and I !! |
Frank's family has been responsible for a hundred years of this part of the ritual with the cross. A huge cross with Jesus crucified which weighs around 50 kgs and there are 3 men taking turns to carry it.
The whole town seemed to be watching and for me it was very special to see friends smiling at me while passing. A magic evening!
On Easter Saturday we had friends for "Calçots". The very special grilled onions with Romesco sauce. It is a whole ritual too. "Calçotada" is a party going on from January till April, when it is season for these very special kind of onions.
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| You eat the calçots standing up with a bib in front not to dirty all of you! |
Usually you drink wine out of a porron like that.
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| Then, after calçots, comes the roasted lamb or chicken or sausages and then dessert!!
It seems that the only thing one does for Easter is eating...but we have been working in the garden and walking up in the hills surronded by flowers and the air is perfumed. It reminded of a poem I wrote many years ago when I was in the island of Crete with the family. It is in Swedish of course and a little tricky to translate:
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Försommar på Kreta
Genom en ridå av
surrande bin
spelar bergens
symfoniorkester upp
Fåglar ropar och
långt borta
gal en tupp som
solist
I klangsektionen hörs
fårens bjällror,
skall från vallhunder
och herdens
visslingar
Som bakgrund prasslar
olivträden i blåsten
En varm frid sprider
sig igenom kroppen
och jag sätter mig på
en sten vid vägkanten
Tiden står still. Och
en bit av oändligheten
rör lätt vid min kind
Maina Novara
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Then comes Easter Sunday and Monday and they are both great family gatherings when one eats paella and a special cake called "Mona". The name mona comes from Arabic "munna" that means provision for the mouth, a present that Arabs gave to their ladies. La mona is a dessert of great tradition in the whole Mediterranean. In the Balearic Islands, big part of Valencia comunity and in Catalunya it is only eaten for Easter.
On Easter Monday the Godfather or Godmother is supposed to give a mona to their Godchildren!! Frank remembers very well that his mother sent him to his Godparents to collect the mona!
What a joy!!
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So naturally we had to go to have a Paella on Easter Monday. We went to our favorite restaurant for fish in Tarragona called Bonachi with our friends Kurt and Åsa. What a fantastic day! The restaurant was of course overful of families with grandfathers and grandmothers and aunts and uncles and babies and children running around.. in other words, a typical Mediterranian lunch!
The dessert was small "monas".
Ramon Bonachi, the owner of the restaurant is also a poet and a photographer and they have the restaurant since generations. His brother, who is the cook, is also a painter! What a family!
Well, well, well, now we do not have to eat anything for a whole week...I think....
Leaving Bonachi, we took a walk by the sea with its nice little beach "L'Arrabassada". There, as a final to this lovely day, we found Mimosa blooming and Tamarix (in other languages Tamarindo, Tamarind, Tamarit) with fantastic pink cascades of flowers.
Thank you for a lovely Easter Holiday!
Maina, Frank, Åsa and Kurt
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