You Wish You Were Living with Carmen, Too.

Last Tuesday (November 1st) was a Spanish national holiday known as Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Day). Traditionally, this is a day when Spaniards visit the graves of loved ones. It is now also used by the younger generations as an excuse to celebrate Halloween—yes, it sort of exists here—and to take an unofficial four-day weekend from the university.

I took advantage of the holiday to do what I do best: sample desserts. Adriana and I tried two types of traditional desserts made for Día de Todos los Santos—huesos de santos and buñuelos:

I also used Día de Todos los Santos as an excuse to talk to my Señora about burials and cemeteries here in Spain. I was actually quite surprised by what Carmen told me. First, she said that she has paid someone to clean the gravesite of her relatives once a week every week since the death of her aunt 30 years ago. She also told me she wants to be cremated—not because she prefers cremation to burial but because there is no one to tend to her grave once she dies. She has actually made payments every month for years now so that she will be cremated when she dies. To me, this indicates a major difference in the amount of respect given to the dead in Spain versus in the States (though, to be fair, my Spanish sample size is limited to one).

Spanish word of the day: flores amarillos = yellow flowers (This is a good one. Earlier this week, I was talking to Carmen when she launched off on the following story: Many years ago, she visited her nephew in Madrid. His patio had some plants with beautiful yellow flowers, and she asked him for seeds so that she could grow this type of plant on her balcony. Unfortunately, although her plant grew, it never grew flowers. Carmen threw it out. Later, in talking to another one of her nephews, she found out that this plant was in fact marijuana. Let me translate: my Señora was illegally growing pot on her balcony without realizing it. Gotta love her.)

un abrazo,
elizabeth