Ancestral dances and Galicia's Enchanted Forest

In Spain, every city, town, village, and hamlet has a saint. This is especially true in Galicia, since if you look at a map of place names including ¨Saint,¨ Galicia is covered in them. And for every saint, there must be a celebration! This past weekend was St. Sebastian's day. After living in Donostia-San Sebastián for a year, this feast day now holds a special place in my heart.

The tiny fishing village of Aldán in Galicia also celebrates San Sebastián day, but in a very different way. Compared to the 24-hour drumming of Donostia-San Sebastián, they have a low-key performance of what was called ¨ancestral dances.¨ After Sunday mass, the dancers prance and hop around the church to the beat of a bagpipe and a drum. This traditional dance is over 300 years old. Apparently it started as an offering to the saint to protect the villagers against the plague. 

Due to imperfect public transportation schedules, I missed the original dance around the church. But luckily for me, they repeated the dance later in the afternoon, near the church and again on the village promenade. The dance itself was made up of five female dancers, 10 male dancers, and one guide. The young women wore giant hats of flowers, and the men (most a lot older than the women) wore suits with a sash and played castanets. The dance itself was a simple swaying with some hops and swirls in between. The most impressive was that in the swirling, the women's massive hats never fell off.

Medieval Aqueduct

To take full advantage of the two bus rides to get there, I also explored the Enchanted Forest of Aldán. Before you even get into the forest, on the side of the road there's a cute mini-bridge and typical clothes washing station. The forest is like any other Galician forest-- they all seem magical. But this has the bonus of a huge Medieval aqueduct and the façade of a small castle. From what I gather, it was part of the land belonging to a small palace (pazo) nearby. The little castle was going to be ¨just for fun¨ for the owners. But it was never finished, and when the road was built right between the pazo and their yard, the forest became a charming park.

Little Unfinished Castle

All in all, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday (when there is often little to do but stay home). Some alone time in nature followed by a bit of Galician traditions to remind me that Entroido (carnival) is right around the corner!

Tourism & Christmas Spirit in BCN

For Spain's long weekend in early December, I felt like going somewhere to get me in the Christmas spirit. At home, it is always snowing by December. I miss the snow! Originally I thought of going to the famed Christmas markets of Germany or Strasbourg. But when I saw the price tag, I knew a cheap, short plane ride to Barcelona would suffice. 😁 I was surprised to find the Catalan capital on a list of best European Christmas markets. I had already been to Barcelona a few times when I was studying abroad, but since I had gone to meet up with a penpal, I didn't necessarily see all the tourist destinations. This time around my guiri (tourist) needs were fulfilled, as well as my desire for Christmas joy.

La Sagrada Familia

In the blue-green forest

On my last visit to BCN, I just observed it from outside and went into a small chapel that's free. My memories of that chapel (meh) have nothing to do with the real deal. The outside of the basilica is just as elaborate as the inside, so it was worth spending the time checking it out. Once inside, the most outstanding characteristic is the stained glass. Not the artwork itself, but the light that pours in, dying the walls reds, yellows, greens, and blues. The pillars succeed at looking like a forest. And the ceiling was such a draw that there was a mirror in the center facing upwards so visitors could get a good look without straining. The basilica is beautiful and unique, for sure. But with all they hype, I wasn't blown away. Maybe I should have splurged and paid the full 22€ for an audio guide. I'm sure there are a lot of details I didn't pick up on that would've made the experience even better.


Casa Milà (La Pedrera)
Continuing the Gaudí architecture tour of Barcelona was a private home he designed. In contrast to the Sagrada Familia, having the audio guide made it my favorite tour. It wasn't just a run-of-the-mill guide. Its sensors could tell where you were, and it would talk to you accordingly. It even had background music! For example, going up in the elevator to the rooftop it played intense music to get you pumped. And thanks to the audio guide, I focused on details I might not have picked up on. The repeated theme was nature, which could be found in the waves of design; the attic that was seemingly held up by a whale's backbone; the door patterned like a monarch butterfly; and the forest-like patio.

La Pedrera's Rooftop

The tour lets you see the first-floor patio, rooftop, attic, and the floor where the original homeowners lived, as it was. The building used to belong to the Milà family at the beginning of the 20th century. They rented out the other floors. Apparently there was drama because the wealthy neighbors of Passeig de Gràcia thought Gaudì had created a modern monstrosity. Now all the naysayers of yore have been proven wrong since La Pedrera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Christmas Market-Fira de Santa Lucía

Christmas market--mistletoe in hand!

Barcelona's major Christmas market is the Fira de Santa Lucía, in the plaza of the Cathedral of Barcelona. The stands can be divided into 3 categories: plants, Nativity scenes, and miscellaneous gifts. The plant stands all sold holly, mistletoe, pines, and Caga Tiós. (Caga Tió, by the way, is one of two ¨crappy¨ Catalan Christmas traditions. It's a log with a face that children hit while singing a song so that it will crap them a present. At the market there was a giant Caga Tió and the kids took turns hitting it. ¨Shit me a gift!¨ Now there's a tradition that could go global!) The tiny Caga Tió's were cute, but I opted for a bunch of mistletoe. My first real mistletoe! I asked the vendor if they had the tradition of kissing underneath it. He said no, the Romans used it to bring luck to anyone who entered the house. Any other traditions were an invention. (I enforced our mistletoe kissing tradition at home regardless.)

Shit us a gift, Tió!

The Nativity scene stands had what you might expect...holy families, shepherds, wise men...as well as caganers. The caganer is the second ¨crappy¨ Catalan Christmas tradition. It's a little figurine hidden in all nativity scenes of a man taking a crap. Normally he was dressed in Catalan traditional garb. But nowadays, they have entire stands dedicated to curious caganers: every celebrity under the sun (athletes, politicians, musicians) plus tv show/videogame characters (Spongebob, Spiderman). You name it, there's probably a figurine of it crapping. I picked a few up as gifts, just for laughs.

Santa María del Mar
Known as the Catedral del Mar, this basilica was built by the people, for the people in the 14th century. The novel revolving around it -- La Catedral del Mar, recommended reading-- is what drew me to visit. I wouldn't say I liked it more than the Sagrada Familia. But visiting it at night with the candles lit (and getting in for free!) gave it a very different vibe. Grandiose.

Flying solo
It's unanimous: travelling alone is an experience everyone should have. Luckily I'm still at an age where I can stay at a hostel and feel comfortable socializing with my peers (when I'm in my 40s, maybe not so much). I really enjoy being able to do what I want, when I want. Also having no pressure if I get lost (and no one to blame but myself if I do). Of course the benefit of staying at a hostel is that you can easily make plans with other travellers in the same boat. Cultural visits alone are no problem for me, despite my inability to take a decent selfie. But eating a sit-down meal alone doesn't feel right. To take care of that, one night I had dinner in the hostel with fellow travellers, and another night I went out with my roommates. I didn't mind, however, having lunch by myself in a cheap, cramped bar that seemed authentic enough. It gave me time to journal.

A Visit from the Apalpador

Nowadays, it seems every country has it's own version of Santa Claus. I always appreciated Spain for being different in that regard, since they traditionally receive gifts on 3 Kings Day rather than on Christmas. Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar show up on a camel on the night of January 5th. That evening, in most cities people line the streets to welcome them with a parade. Each king has a float, complete with pages throwing candy to their adoring fans.

But the times they are a-changing, and not purely because of globalization. More and more Spanish families are celebrating with Papá Noel, Santa's Spanish counterpart. Their reasoning is that by giving kids gifts on December 25th, they have weeks of vacation to play with their new toys, compared to the single vacation day for toys received from the Kings. Fair enough.

In Galicia, however, there has been a surge in popularity of a specifically Galician Christmas character: the Apalpador. Apalpador translates to the guy who pats. He's a burly coal maker from the Ancares (or O Caurel), mountains in the eastern part of Lugo province. Once a year, he comes down from the mountains to visit the children of Galicia. He pats their bellies to see if they've been well-fed, and gives them some magic chestnuts to be well-fed and strong all year round. Now, when I first heard the story, it was rather alarming. A strange man rubbing kids' tummies...Call the cops! But now that I've seen the Apalpador in action, it's cute and not creepy.


This year, the Apalpador was spotted in several Galician cities, and even more towns and villages. In Lugo, where he has been going for years, he was greeted by a horde of delighted children. In Pontevedra where he is a relative newcomer, I met him and participated in his walk around town. More and more children must learn about him in school, because quite a few recognized him in the street. Others (like myself originally) were skeptical about this big, bearded man approaching them. But they quickly relaxed when a girl their own age (the Apalpador's unofficial helper) gave them chestnuts.

If in Spain they're going to lose the tradition of the 3 Kings, I hope at least it gets replaced by an original, traditional character like the Apalpador.