Rosemary

Well it is now official, we are definitely walking in the most important procession that our town has. A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbours informed Graham that we were in the procession of flowers on 7 Sept but as usual we do not trust our Spanish enough to believe what we are hearing. Just now Marisa delivered my flowers so now we know for sure that he got it right. The bouquet looks fantastic easily 15 to 20 pounds in UK but only cost us 6€. The flowers will be placed with the rest of the flowers in the town hall square and I have been told that this year they are to be put in the framework shaped like a dove. Biggest problem is keeping them fresh as they are made up in such a way that I cannot put them into water and it is boiling here as usual. At the moment they have been sprayed with water and are laying on the toilet floor with a fan just outside the door.

Rosemary

silverchick

How privileged you are! It must be so lovely to be included in such things, make sure you take lots of pics to post!
Would the bouquet fit in your fridge? it will be a good way to keep it fresh.

Rosemary

Unfortunately the flowers will not fit in the fridge. Will take some photo's but it is difficult if you are part of the procession.

Rosemary

montgomail

Oh come on, Rosemary. You must have somewhere you can hide a little digi camera.

brisca

Hey Rosemary, you and Graham are becoming procession regulars!!
It all sounds like great fun; hope you have a lovely time.

I guess the procession will take place later tonight when it's cooler?

I saw a brief bit on the TV the other day, about something that looked like the Battle of Flowers that takes place in Jersey.
I can't remember the name of the Spanish town, but the carts that they were decorating were amazing!!
(Shame about all the flowers that would be dead within 24 hours though )

I love the bit about you not trusting your language skills to know whether you've understood information correctly or not!
That happens to us all the time!!

Rosemary

Just got in. Left the house at 6.30 p.m. to walk to the procession start point, procession began at 7 p.m., it wove its way around streets that we have not walked in before so that was interesting. What surprised me was how many people we needed to say 'hola' to, did not realise that we now know so many in the town. The flowers were put in a framework shaped like a dove that had been put on a stage outside the church. In the procession there were the ladies in their fallas dresses, children in fallas outfits, little boys dressed as moors, brightly dressed people from Bolivia and the rest of us dressed up in our finery.

When we returned we joined many of the neighbours for the evening and dinner. Jokes were being told and although we could not fully understand we got the gist of them due to the very descriptive facial expressions and arm movements.

A great evening, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Will post some photo's tomorrow.

Tomorrow night we will be watching the very religious procession, watching the fireworks and then we are joining people in the town hall square for dinner and then dancing till the small hours.

Rosemary

brisca

Hi there Rosemary,

It's great to know there's someone else who's still up and "buzzing" from a good night out
I can't actually contemplate going to bed yet!

I was thinking about you and Graham as I was describing my night; as I knew you were both going to the procession tonight.
Oh my goodness............you've had an even longer night than I have

The evening's events sound like they were great fun - and you've got more to come tomorrow
Looking forward to seeing the photos too.

Rosemary

Here as promised are some photo's of our procession yesterday, hopefully it will give you a feel of the buzz in the air. I think that the whole town was there, either in the procession or watching it.

Mitzyboy

They do go to a lot of trouble with their costumes don't they!

Rosemary

A few more photo's for you, hope that I am not boring you too much.

Rosemary

Lionda

Sounds like you have really integrated Rosemary You seem to be having so much fun

Rosemary

Further update on our celebrations. I went to bed after posting on here but did not go to sleep until after 7 a.m., the wake up bangers went off at 8 a.m. but I decided not to get up and slept until just after 10 a.m. More bangers at 11.20, 11.30 and 11.40 followed by the band walking through the streets playing cheerful music.

The pavements are now filled with everyone's pot plants and the cars are gradually being moved out of the street ready for the procession this evening, again the place is buzzing with activity. There will be the mascaletes going off in the town hall square at 2 p.m. and this is deafening so we are glad that we do not live in the square itself. Of course the church bells are ringing most of the day to let people know about services etc. Tonights procession will have the people dressed in fallas gear etc again but it is the more solemn procession with the Virgin. Fireworks (fantastic ones) will occur after the procession and then it is dinner in the town hall square for several hundred people, music and dancing until the small hours so I may not wake up at all tomorrow. Just remembered that I will have to wake up in the evening tomorrow as we were told that there is a spectacular parade in the nearby town at about 8 p.m.

Sorry to be boring but it is good to be part of the community in quiet times but it is wonderful when the place buzzes too.

Rosemary

Lionda

Boring - you!! Never I'm envious

Rosemary

The people in our town are great and include us so much and after a year here we know that we made the correct choice. The other day a lady that I speak to in my poor attempts at the language said that her and her friends want to spend time with us but are concerned because they do not speak English. I told her that we are happy to join in and the problem is ours not theirs.

Rosemary

Lionda

That sounds great Rosemary How far away are you from Castalla?