Spain’s amazing reverence for the Virgin Mary

 People in Spain have such an amazing reverence for the Virgin Mary here.  It’s absolutely incredible and inspiring.  As Christians we tend to think of Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity more than we think of her, and I know that sometimes I certainly forget about Mother Mary.  But here in Spain it’s impossible to forget about her, every church you walk into has a huge statue of Mary, and then next to her is her son, Jesus.  Churches are named after Mary, Mary of Sorrow, Mary of Anguish, Mary of something else, they are incredibly dedicated to her.

So when I was wandering out Huelva today, just to kill some time I stumbled (aka didn’t pay attention) into the church I’ve been attending since I came here.  To my amazement there were four giant floats standing in the whole church being prepared for the “acto de fe” that will happen tomorrow.  And the first thing I saw was a giant statue of Mary on the floor.  It took me a bit of wandering around to realize, but this statue actually came off the wall, where it was previously standing.  The statue was in a nook carved out for one of many statues of Mary and Jesus.  And, to make it even more curious there were men standing around this statue dousing it in incense, keeping her surrounded by it.  I found this very curious, but continued to meander around the church as everyone else took pictures and admired the floats being prepared.  They were putting flowers on them and adorning them to be absolutely gorgeous tomorrow.

A bit later I wandered back over to look at the statue one more time before I left, and noticed that people kept going up to the statue and kissing her hand.  I was so shocked and confused, and realized that the two men standing in their suits were there to protect the statue, one to shower Mary with incense and the other to wipe her hand after each person kissed it.  I then watched one woman walk up to her, kiss her hand multiple times and stand and pray and cry, presumably thanking Mary for all that she has done for us.  After watching this tremendous act of faith and devotion to her I walked up to Mary myself, kissed her hand and said a Hail Mary.  Afterward, I realized how incredibly dedicated the country of Spain is to her, and how important Mary is to me as well. 

Since being here I’ve learned to love Mary even more and accept her love for me.  I’ve turned to her more often than I have in the past and realized that in giving birth to Jesus, raising Him and then watching/letting Him die for me, she has also done one of the most tremendous acts of love.  She watched her son die and has cared for all of us as her own children.  It’s amazing how important she is, and it’s amazing how quickly we forget that.  Spain has helped me remember, and I can’t wait to watch the processions tomorrow down Gran Via.  Rain or shine, the people of Huelva will be showing their faith in Jesus Christ, in God and in the Blessed Virgin Mary, by carrying the very heavy floats down the street and remembering all that God has sacrificed for us to live in his love.

Thank you Spain, for reminding me to remember Mary and her love for all of us as well.

Huelva goes back in time

I forgot to post this when I wrote it…oops.  So this happened about three weeks ago now, but it was still really interesting!

So this past weekend (a couple weeks ago now) I noticed an article posted by the University of Huelva here about a medieval festival that was taking place just 5 minutes away from where I live.  I noticed on my walk to school on Wednesday and Thursday morning that there were strange tents set up and flags hanging from the light posts and buildings.  I was really confused and didn’t understand, thought that maybe it had something to do with a kids festival or so, and just kind of kept walking.  Then, as more started to be put up I got more excited, and finally I saw an article titled “Huelva regresa al medievo” yay!! You can imagine how excited I was.  I mean, I only read about a thousand books about chivalry and knights in shining armor, and although I might not profess my love as strongly as some others, I still really enjoy traveling through time at a medieval event.  I mean come one, they’re the best!  So I promptly found some friends to head to the festival with me on Friday evening and spent the whole night at the fair looking at all the chachki’s they had to sell, yummy meat, bread, and sweets.  I even had some sweets with a friend.  The big candy here is a gummy type of candy in all different flavors.  They’re kind of like gummies, but more sugary and less chewy, and there’s a lot more flavors. 

 

We walked around the area that was in Plaza something that starts with a P and saw the shoddy looking rides for the kids (2euro for a ride on a stupid little pirate ship!?) and admired the jewlery that was all around me.  I’ve kind of turned into a jewlery junkie since I got out of school, I love earrings and bracelets now, it’s kind of a problem.  :P  I fully expect that by the time I leave Spain I will not have to buy jewlery ever again, or will at least be able to retire anything from the U.S. :P  So did some shopping and I bought myself a bracelet.  It was originally going to be for a friend, but then I thought..naw, why should I when I like it!? haha.  I also got a brujita de suerte!! (goodluck witch) and mine was of happiness, which is supposed to bring happiness to my friendships, life, and love.  :)  So cute, no?

At around 9:30 or so there was a cool “espectáculo” where people dressed up in weird outfits and played with fire.  The kids really liked it, and it was interesting to see what Spainards think is fun and is a fireworks show.  For a bit we were worried about the safety of ourselves, others and of the city itself, given that they were performing on the street with fire and there were trees around.  But as is many things in Spain, health and safety don’t really exist like they do in the States.  You wanna let your kids slide down a slope towards a metal barrier on a piece of cardboard? (see picture on the right) Sure.  You wanna do a fireworks show in the middle of the street? Why not?  Such is life in Spain…

So Camille, her friend Javi, and I all went around town together for the night and explored everything.  We watched the show, looked at the “exotic” birds that they had for show.  Really, they had a Bald Eagle, a couple owls and some other animals.  You also had to pay like 5 euro or something ridiculous like that to get a picture with a bird or snake.  Lots of parents were doing it for their kids, but I suppose around here they don’t see these animals in the wild like we can.  I’m not sure, but it was funny, and I loved watching one kid get really scared as they guy put the Bald Eagle on his shoulder.  The Eagle is so big, I would be scared too.  We then spent the rest of the night out in the back party of Casa Colon, which is a plaza area where they had set up brain teaser puzzle games outside for people to play.  It was really fun, and we definietly spent a lot of time on those.  I’d played a few of them before, but they were all really hard, and the directions were in Spanish, of course.  Sometimes they just didn’t have directions at all….which made it even harder to figure out! haha

It was a great weekend, and apparently Huelva has fairs like this pretty often, to help generate money for the city.  Fairs are really good at generating money because it gets people out on the streets, visiting the restaurants and spending money.  Camille told me about a really big medieval fair that happens in a town a little farther north so I’m excited to go to that one.  They have a castle!

Till my next post, I promise it will be a bit more on time. :) Love you all!