Corpus Christi

Last Sunday was Corpus Christi and being in the small mediterranean village of Sitges (where I used to spend every summer as a child), the festivities were quite special. I just wanted to share some pictures I took of the procession and the wonderfully detailed "catifas", exquisite carpets made of flowers, mostly carnations.

This was the first-prize winner of the catifas:



The design was taken from Andalusian tiles housed in a nearby museum.


The second prize winner:


"Sitges", the Catalan flag and Santiago Rusiñol, a local painter author, and playwright. This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth making it the "any Rusiñol".

Look at how cute the palettes are!

It is a shame to see these time-consuming yet ephemeral works of art destroyed by the same procession-but alas, that's the way it goes.


Here is one of the lovely giants impersonating a Catalan Medieval King.


An enchanting Turkish Queen,


And here are the proud Catalan regents. When they began to move along the procession they looked eerily alive. I don't really know where this tradition comes from... perhaps the citizens had always viewed royalty in such a lofty way that the only way to depict them or impersonate them would have to be as giants. That way one could be sure of gaining the people's respect and awe.

A pause in the procession...


I thought this little boy was sooo adorable! Look at his cute catalan espadrilles.

While witnessing all this I felt like I was in a scene from "The Talented Mr. Ripley", the Virgin Mary emerging from the transparent waters of the Mediterranean, and the supersitious inhabitants so lovingly recreating the same rituals year after year.
Beautiful. Spooky. Magical. Both spiritual and material. Tradition doesn't die in these villages; past and future become one.