Ongoing Podcast Series about Fiestas and Foods of Spain. Written by Nick Butcher

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS PODCAST This Podcast is an going series about Fiestas and Foods of Spain. which was written by Nick Butcher. Nick Butcher, origionally from the UK, as a young lad moved to the Costa del Sol in Spain and settled in Nerja. He has a wonderful and rich view of the many fiestas and feasts of Spain. These Podcasts include:

FIESTAS DE: Nacional de España, Maravillas,Festival of the Assumption, Virgen del Carmen,San Juan,San Isidro,May 1st and Cruces de Mayo,Semana Santa,

ABOUT NICHOLAS BUTCHER

Nicholas Butcher is recording a series of episodes about the Fiestas in Spain and related food, to be broadcast on RSA 99.1 fm regularly.Nicholas Butcher ran the family restaurant in Chichester,Sussex for five years before moving permanently to Spain in 1984.Here he combines language teaching with writing, and he is also involved with the local Alminares choir.His first book, The Spanish Kitchen, was published in 1990. The Festive Food of Spain followed a year later, and was reissued this year.As a surprise, you might even find the odd receipe to accompany some episodes.

FIESTAS OF SPAIN

Nerja FeriaFew events throughout the Spanish year are so eagerly awaited as the annual fair, and Nerja is no exception.

All Saints DayWe can learn from the Spanish attitude to death, which is not to shy away from it. Every year they take time out to do so in a formal framework, with the feast day, on the first of November, of All Saints, known here as 'El dia de Todos los Santos".

El Puente de la ConstituciónThe longest 'puente' in the Spanish calendar is the one that spans two national holidays on the 6th and 8th of December.

The first date is a reminder of recent history: following Franco's death in 1975, a new constitution was presented for referendum on the 6th December 1978.Since then, is has been a national holiday.

The second date of the 'puente', the 8th of December, is the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception, 'La Inmaculada Concepción'.

ChristmasGiven the significance of what Christmas celebrates, the birth of God made man, it's strange to reflect that one of the certainties about Christmas and its traditions is that nobody really has any idea when Jesus was born.

San Antonio and San SebastianSan Antonio. Those of us wishing to know the secret of how to live to a ripe old age might like to study the long life of an Egyptian saint, St Anthony the Great, known in Spain as San Antonio Abad or Saint Anthony Abbot...

San Sebastian. While St Anthony was busy following his path to spritual perfection in Egypt, another future saint, Sebastian, whose feast is on 20th January, was, according to legend, working as an officer in the imperial bodyguard in Rome...

La Candelaria and San BlasLa Candelaria: Forty days after the birth of Christ, an important day arrived for his mother, the Virgin Mary. According to the religious customs of the time, a new mother was impure for a week after giving birth...

San Blas has a meteorological significance, because sailors who regularly use the waters off Spain's northern coasts pay special attention to the winds on this day.

CarnavalShortly before the start of the period in the Catholic calendar known as Lent, Spain embarks on its annual silly season, the brief flourishing of madness, licentiousness and sexual ambiguity, the widespread loss of all sense of decorum and respect for authority, known as Carnaval.

Semana SantaOne's first experience of an Andalusian Easter procession can be bewildering. It is hard to find a logical thread in this complex web of images and sensations. Holy statues sway past you on their 'thrones' accompanied by sinisterly robed and hooded penitents. There are brass bands and long lines of candle-bearing faithful.

El dia del trabajo - Las cruces de mayoThe holiday that is celebrated on the first of May, known in Spain as 'el día del trabajo' - 'Work Day' - serves to remind us that the marches held on this day pay hommage to a struggle that came to a head in protests in Chicago in 1886.

Las cruces de mayoTwo days later some parts of Spain, the villages of the Axarquía included, celebrate 'las cruces de mayo', the day of the May Crosses.

San IsidroSeven weeks after the Resurrection, the Church celebrates Pentecost or Whit Sunday. This is the cue for the famous 'romería' or pilgrimage to the little village of El Rocío alongside the marshland of the Doñana national park. But in Nerja we can get an earlier taste of what an Andalusian 'romería' involves on the 15th May, the day of San Isidro, Saint Isidore, the patron saint of all those who work the land.

San JuanThe 24th June recalls the birthday, six months before that of Jesus, of one of the Christian faith's most important saints, John the Baptist. However, the eve of this day is marked in Nerja and many other places in Spain by perhaps the least religious, certainly one of the noisiest and most bacchanalian festivals of the whole year. The night of the 23rd coinicides more or less with the summer solstice and traditionally heralds the arrival of summer.

Virgen del CarmenBack in May, the town of Nerja paid its annual hommage to the patron saint of the land, San Isidro. But the town’s economy traditionally encompassed the sea as well, and this month it’s time to remember how dangerous and for how little reward these waters have been worked down the years. Few people are more superstitious than the people who work on the sea, so it’s unsurprising that they have a much revered patron, La Virgen del Carmen, to watch over them and to whom they direct their prayers, and she is honoured on the 16th July in coastal towns and villages all over Spain, as well as in the Spanish navy.

The AssumptionOn the fifteenth of August, in the middle of the month when half of Spain already seems to be on their annual holidays, there is a national bank holiday. It’s to celebrate the feast of the Assumption, an event which, just like the Immaculate Conception back in December, is problematic for many non-Catholic Christians, and similarly centers on the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. (complete text)

Nacimiento de la VirgenOn December 8th each year, Spain celebrates one of its national holidays, the Immaculate Conception. This was the day when Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb, without the stain of original sin.

Nine months later to the day, on September 8th, towns and villages all over Spain celebrate fiestas in honour of her birth, el Nacimiento de la Virgen, and Maro is among them with its annual fair in honour of its patron, Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, Our Lady of Wonders.

La Fiesta Nacional de EspañaIn this, the last in this series of talks, it is perhaps fitting that three of the most significant figures in the story of Spain, of its culture and its beliefs, come together for a celebration of the national holiday that is the 12th October.

Spain Fiestas Comprehensive List Axarquia

Listed by Pueblo and Town Hall Phone Number Included Below