Summer Festival in Madrid

I received an email from my boss at the hospital that we should all go see another volunteer who would be in ¨Castizo,¨ whatever that means, and serving tasty snacks.  And there would be clowns, so be there at 7:30.  The location turned out to be two blocks from where I always park when I have to go into the city, so off we went.

So this young woman is not ¨going Castizo,¨ but rather Goyesco.  More about Goyesco later, but notice the darker blue pom-poms on her dress.  Castizo is what we would call Victorian, as you see in the drawing below of the woman in green.  You have to have a flower perched on your head, though the shawl is optional.  Only girls are castizo. The boy is ¨going chulapa.¨

I wondered what they would call Victorian, because obviously they would not name a whole 75 year period after an English Queen.  Above is the 25-page program of events, for 5 days across the city. On the left is a call for entrants in the costume contest.  Three festivals take place together in honor of San Lorenzo, San Cayetano and La Virgen de La Paloma.

I saw these two in the street and wanted a picture, but didn´t feel comfortable asking.  But then it turned out that they are in the same ¨Pride of Madrid and Cultural Preservation¨ association as my friend.  She has the typical costume and he has doves on his T-shirt, which is what ¨Las Palomas¨ means.  The graphic was designed by the guy who won the design contest for an image to represent San Fermin, the patron saint of the running of the bulls.  He told me that in Spanish and I smiled and nodded till I could get home and google ¨San Fermin diseñador.¨

This painting of the Virgen Mary is the centerpiece of the celebration.  It dates from 1790, though it looks new, and they carry it through the streets in processions during the week.

Here´s my friend Maria.  Her placard says, ¨Out of service,¨  though in reality she was selling raffle tickets, getting us drinks, and judging the fan competition all at once.  The raffle was for a dress, probably made by Maria.  She told me about the girl above and her Goya-style dress.  Goya was a painter from 100 years earlier (1790, versus 1890) and according to Maria, she only wears her Goya dresses on REALLY special Sunday occasions. Her dress is more comfortable and casual to wear to a summer street festival. She explained in depth how to make the pom-poms and that they have to be made by hand.  When I really looked at the blue dress, there were hundreds of pom-poms.

Here is Maria judging the fan competition, in which people present their fans and the stories that go with them.  One was hand made by the woman´s son, another that Wyatt liked was made of pressed paper flowers.  The Goya girl had one crocheted by her mother, who probably also hand-tied those hundred pom-poms.  One was 120 years old and passed down.  The winning one was 80 years old, painted front and back with a country scene, and a gift from a grandparent from a special trip.  No surprise that tradition wins over novelty.  The boys were fascinated.

The boys insisted they didn´t like clowns, but these clowns did magic and were actually funny.  Maria said the place would be so full later for the dance party that you would not even be able to get into the square.  We did not stick around for that.  We are off to the side in a sort of VIP area for organizers.  Right as we were leaving, more of Maria´s friends showed up...a handsome young man who is Maria´s sewing student for making American style menswear, whatever that is to a Spaniard, and his girlfriend.  There is hope for humanity if Grandma Sewing-Master has a grown man as an apprentice.

Here is a dragon guarding a barbecue.  We bought our food from Maria, though, because we want to support her organization.  She is up till 4 in the morning 4 days in a row and out in the sun all day.  I said, ¨To serve lemonade wine coolers to the young party animals.¨ She said, ¨and to the grandmothers too.¨