We went to the ‘show’ last night which was a representation of the Inquisition in Llerena and how the witches came under the protection of the Village of Villagarcia. It was excellent. We didn’t understand much, however it was apparent that it was very well acted and lots of the village took part. The village band played Templars, and most women appeared to be witches.
The first half took place in the village square, with a large stage under the clock tower and big banners and torches (with real flames worrying close to the banners!) decorating balconies. It was to start at 10, so we were not suprised when it actually kicked off at 10.45. The second half took place in the courtyard of the convent (the one which has been rennovated) and included dancing, as well as the acting out of a story, and also the raising of the devil which appeared to be a goat.
It was highly impressive, however was a long time to sit still when we didn’t understand much. Typically Spanish, the break between the first and second half was long enough for people to eat dinner and the bars were heaving. It finished at 2.00 (yup – at night) and we went to Bar Tuna and then down to Bar Extremadura. By this time it was 4.00 and the place was buzzing with people young and old. I think we are getting the idea of why this strange nocternal activity takes place. It has been very hot and impossible to do anything in the afternoon, which is why people take to their beds to reappear later.
Tonight there is a band, the village band and also ‘coches locos’ which translates as ‘crazy cars’ ie bumper cars! Apparently people from all the local villages come to this fiesta so it will be interesting to see what happens. We have met some more people who speak a little english, which is both good and bad as it means we have other translators, but also it is ‘easy’ to speak english rather than spanish.
Last night I saw a young lad wearing a football shirt which had ‘jesus’ on the back, the common usage of jesus as a name still makes me chuckle. The other thing that made me laugh was we found out that Baarrreeeeee’s real name is Angel. So it was Angel who was knocking on our door in the middle of the night trying to get Ian to sing Kareoke!