One of the Easter traditions in Catalonia is that on Easter Sunday the Godfather gives his Godchild "La Mona", an Easter Egg or cake.
Easter usually falls at the end of March, beginning of April, but since Christmas the bakers and confectioners have been planning how they can outdo their last year's efforts. Chocolate sculptures representing Disney characters, football idols, etc. adorn the shop windows as each shopkeeper tries to make his display the biggest and the best in order to attractthe attention of the children as they go past.
Most of the cakes and sculptures are decorated with coloured feathers, chocolate eggs, fluffy chicks, etc. and each year about 500,000 "monas"are eaten in Catalonia. In 1997, one cake shop in Lerida made a"mona" weighing 87 kilos representing the Barcelona football player Ronaldo. Here are some pictures of different children from St. Paul's School taken with their Easter "mona".
Alvaro Zimmerman |
Ferran Llavallol |
Marc Llavallol |
| Cristina Rodrigez del Valle
|
Javier Rodriguez del Valle
|
Click here to see some drawings done by 5 year old children at St. Paul's School Barcelona, of their "monas"
SPRING in Cuenca means Holy Week (see Spring festivals)
The whole country celebrates Corpus Christi, but in Toledo and Sitges special celebrations are held.
Toledo: Here a most solemn morning procession bearing the Arfe monstrance passes among the faithful in this beautiful city. The Illescas nobles in their red habits, the knights of the Holy Sepulchre dressed in white, the Mozarabic knights with their blue habits, and the knights of Corpus Christi dressed in green, evoke the different medieval ways of life.
Sitges: Barcelona province. Since 1950 this fiesta has been celebrated with fantastically beautiful carpets of flowers covering the streets of this seaside town. An altar is placed in the main square and the crowds are blessed with a shower of carnations. The National Carnation Exhibition is held on the same day and thousands of bouquets from different countries are displayed.
