Spring is almost underway, which in Andalusia means only one thing: Fiesta time! From ElDía de Andalucia on February 28 right up until September, many colourful ferias, carnavales, fiestas and romerias can be enjoyed all over the province.
Whether it’s consuming ridiculous amounts of sherry, watching a flamenco extravaganza or firework display, prancing horses or street parade, Andalusians know how to celebrate in style- and you’ll find they don’t need much excuse for a good knees-up! Various Saint’s days, deliverance from the sea or from the Moors, and the harvesting of products like grapes, cherries, chestnuts and olives all provide the perfect reason to throw a party.
This was first published in Salon and an edited version with hyperlinks can be read on their website here.
A wall mural declares ´Sovereignty and socialism´
With virtually no police, crime, or unemployment, the Spanish town of Marinaleda has gained celebrity status in Europe. Can we learn something from this democratic ´utopia´, and the maverick mayor who advocates shoplifting?
On the face of it, the Spanish town of Marinaleda is indistinguishable from any other. Nestled in the picturesque Campiña valley, the surrounding countryside is made up of rolling green hills, miles of olive plantations and golden meadows of wheat stretching as far as the eye can see. The town is pretty, tranquil, and typical of those found in Andalusia, Spain´s poorest and most southerly province.
Flowers tumble from white-washed buildings as old men while away the summer´s afternoon on shaded benches, silently watching the world go by. Families take their evening paseo in the rose-filled municipal park, while shouts and thuds can be heard as boys play soccer in the schoolyard.
But on Avenida de Libertad (Liberty Avenue), Marinaleda´s main street, dozens of colourful wall murals quite literally paint a new picture.
´War on Capitalism´, one reads. ´Peace and social justice´.
´Turn off the TV, turn on your mind´, says another.
Anti-fascist slogans depict stickmen throwing swastikas in the trash, while paintings of doves- an image also used in the town´s flag and logo are pitched against military tanks with the message:´Don´t stop searching for peace´.
This street art, along with a metal sign outside the town´s commonly-owned bar declaring ´Another world is possible´, are small clues to Marinaleda´s identity as a self-styled ´Utopia for peace´.
Since the financial crisis began in 2008, Marinaleda has shot to fame- and so has its maverick mayor Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, who earned the nickname ´The Spanish Robin Hood´ after organizing and carrying out a series of supermarket raids in a direct action protest last August. Basic groceries such as oil, rice and beans were loaded into carts, wheeled from the store and taken to a local food bank to help the poor as helpless cashiers looked on, some crying.
Spanish tax laws are changing- and it´s about time. If Rajoy is serious about easing unemployment, he needs to stimulate growth through a complete system overhaul
Every day, my neighbour Alfredo sits under the fig tree outside the village bar, cutting off the plastic from used electricity cables with care and attention. They pay 1.50eu per kilo for the copper wire inside, he tells me earnestly.
I moved to a sleepy hamlet in rural Andalusia, Spain, two years ago. Back then, the recession was not yet a social catastrophe and most still had jobs. Now, crippling austerity measures and tax increases have deepened the crisis to such an extent that only a handful of this tiny village´s 274 residents are working. Official figures show 42% of the active population here (and 65% of young people) are registered unemployed, compared to national figures of 27% and 57% respectively. But real figures could be much higher, since many families are no longer (or never were) entitled to social security.
Alfredo is one of thousands of others who can´t claim government help because was always paid cash-in-hand. He has a three year-old son and a partner who lost her job as a care assistant during Rajoy´s brutal public sector cuts, and theirs is one of two million Spanish households without a breadwinner. The middle class is shopping in Lidl while those who fell off the bottom rung of the social ladder a long time ago are scavenging in the dustbins outside. His story is typical: a recent report showed Spain´s black economy is worth 20% of its GDP. But why is tax-free work so widespread, even among expats who would never do ´this sort of thing´at home?
A pig is killed and skinned at a traditional Matanza in Southern Spain
Just 40 kilometres inland from the hotels and souvenir shops of the Costa del Sol lies the Genal Valley, where tiny white villages forgotten by the march of time cling to pine-fringed mountains. These picturesque pueblos blancos, their crumbling houses brightened by red geraniums, are a quaint reminder of a rustic bygone age.
Here, self-sufficiency is not an alternative buzzword but rather the default way of life. Men in battered flat caps use mules to plough the earth, firewood is collected from the surrounding forest to heat homes in winter, and the majority of people in these villages- some with populations of under 200- have smallholdings, growing organic produce and rearing animals for meat all year round.
Sheep, goats, chickens and pigs are kept by most families, and the latter are killed at the end of the long winter in an event known as La Matanza – literally ´the slaughter´. Relatives and friends lend a hand, preparing meat products to be stored for the coming year. Perishable meat is eaten immediately and washed down with copious amounts of alcohol. Like everything else in Andalusia, La Matanza is as good a reason as any for a fiesta.
No, you´re not imagining it: the sleepy hamlet of Júzcar is Sony´s official ´smurf village´and the Genal Valley´s only blue village
Dubbed ´the city of dreams´, the famous hilltop fortress of Ronda is the third most visited city in Southern Spain, and by far the most spectacular. The largest of the celebrated pueblos blancos, Ronda is known for the architectural wonder that is the El Tajo bridge, which straddles a 300ft gorge and offers panoramic views over the surrounding countryside. Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway- not to mention David Cameron and Michelle Obama- are just some of Ronda´s notable aficionados.
Aside from its breathtaking location, Ronda´s charm lies in its size. Small enough to explore on foot in one day, it still manages to boast all the best bits of rival Andalusian hotspots: the rich Moorish history of Cordoba, the Sevillian-style horse-drawn carriages and jasmine-scented plazas, and labyrinthine cobbled streets so reminiscent of those in Granada´s old Albaycín quarter.
But Ronda is simply the jewel in the crown of a very special and largely undiscovered part of Andalusia. The surrounding area, the Serranía de Ronda, is made up of sprawling natural parks, timeless white hamlets, and rolling green hills. Doe-eyed lovers gazing out at the landscape from one of Ronda´s many paisajes romanticos may well forget they are in dusty Southern Spain, and it would be a great shame to visit the city without venturing further afield to discover authentic Andalusian slow living at its most irresistible.
Without a doubt, the most awe-inspiring area of the Serranía is the Genal valley, just a few kilometres south of Ronda. Here, the smallest and prettiest pueblos blancos nestle amongst pine-clad mountains, and golden eagles soar high above the fertile valley of olive, lemon and orange plantations.
I have another blog about country life in this beautiful part of rural Spain. If this interests you, you can find it here.
Parauta, another beautiful hamlet in the stunning Genal Valley
Sophie McAdam 