Saturday 31 October 2009

All Saints Day is tomorrow, a day of memories, flowers and cemeteries

This is the day on which the cemeteries are crowded with visitors, presumably in the hope that one's ever-resting relatives have become saints. In any case, the last few weeks have been used to tidy up the nichos ('shelves'?) where they rest. Todos los Santos, or All Saints', is a day when fresh flowers get placed at the cemeteries, which come alive with visitors. On Friday morning our old friend Diego the Flowerman will have been at his usual place in the market, and on Saturday he may well set up a stall in the main square, reminiscent of when the market used to be held there. Todos los Santos means All Saints (so does Tosantos in Andaluz). That's what it is on Sunday next, November 1st: All Saints Day. It is the day when people come from far and near to visit their loved ones at the cemetery. It is a national holiday, i.e. a Bank Holiday, but it's a Sunday. And what does that mean? No school on Monday, of course! But banks, shops and other such places will be open as usual.

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