Dia de San Anton

Such an unexpected surprise!

This deserves its own blog post.

One thing I love here is how spontaneous everything seems!

Thursday night, Brynn and I were quietly walking back to our apartments after going out for some tapas. I was feeling tired and had made strict plans for myself for when I got home-  an hour of homework, an hour of face timing family, and then to acostarme (hit the hay) at 11:00 sharp. 
Yeah right- this is Spain.
As we approached the fork in the road where we normally part ways, we saw a huge crowd of people standing in the street. Naturally, we had to find out what was going on.
We found out that we had stumbled upon the parade for San Anton, the patron saint of animals. Apparently, Thursday was a special day to honor him here in Spain and in celebration, they had a procession that went right through Brynn's neighborhood!

It was the most amazing, spontaneous, cultural experience that I have yet to have in my two weeks here so far!

We arrived with perfect timing- everyone in the procession had just finished lining up and were waiting to begin the parade. Brynn and I looked around in awe at the beautiful women and young girls dressed up in traditional Valencian dresses. In the procession there was also a band, older women dressed in black traditional Valencian clothes, and a huge altar type thing that men carried on their shoulders. On top of the altar was a huge figurine of San Anton. An altar boy also "helped" carry the altar and led the men in some chants. He was adorable.
As Brynn and I stood around waiting with the mass of people in the street, we were startled when a huge BOOM shook the streets. We looked up and there were fireworks in the sky! We ooed and ahhed with the  

españoles 

as a display of bright beautiful fire lit the sky for a good five minutes. 

Then it began!

The procession was lead by a priest in white. As the procession began, the huge crowd of people in the street started to walk along with the people in the procession. I looked up and saw people coming out on their balconies in the apartments above our heads to watch the traditional procession. Brynn and I joined in with the crowd and followed the parade on its route around the block, cheering when everyone cheered and clapping when everyone clapped. The music of the brass instruments rose and fell and added to the thick energy in the air.  The procession made its way around the block and ended up in front of a church, where it stopped for people to throw something on the altar thing (birdseed? corn meal? dirt? I'm not sure, but everyone on the street had something in their hands that they were throwing).


Then, they took the altar into the church and EVERYONE else followed!
So into the church we went. We watched as the priest said a few words of blessing, the men chanted something, and everyone cheered and clapped! People made their way up to the altar to throw more things on it, touch and kiss it.
We walked back out of the church to find music playing and people dancing in the street!

 I took quite a bit of video on my iphone, but it is all chopped in to pieces instead of one long video. The internet has a bad connection today and it will only let me upload one video right now, so maybe tomorrow I will edit this post and add more videos. This is a video that I took right when we walked up to the parade. Everyone was lining up and getting ready to go.

This was such a cool experience. What made it so interesting was the fact that I have watched videos of processions like this in probably every Spanish class I have ever taken, but as I was walking home one night, one spontaneously erupted in front of me! As we ran around through the crowd, dodging birdseed(?) and women in huge dresses, I shouted out to Brynn, "THIS is why we studied abroad!"
To be a part of another culture.. to see these things firsthand.. to be with the people. This is what it is to really understand how different people live. Obviously, saint worship is not okay, but having this cultural experience brings forth a better understanding of their culture. And from understanding their culture comes a love for them and an appreciation for the lives of these people.