Public Holidays Judeo-Christian Style

AOG, Madrid

Yesterday, a newspiece popped up on the El País website. It mentioned that the Catalonian School Council in Barcelona (Catalonia is Spain's most "on-again, off-again" progressive region- at least it likes to think it is) was putting forward a project to the Generalitat (Catalonia's regional Government) to rename the Christmas Holidays (Navidad in Spain) as, simply, Winter Vacations. And the same goes for Easter- Spring Vacations.

It also wants the school year to have a week of rest for the students in February, to start earlier than it does, and to debate the heavy workload of some public schools in June. All these measures it seems to have the full backing of the Council.

According to the article, in Catalonia 63% of schoolchildren go to public schools, and 37% go to private academies- and more than half of these are religious schools.

Of course you can imagine the outcry. Change Christmas? I posted the link to the article on Facebook and my take on it.

I am all for the name change. Why call it Christmas? Years ago I was informed as to why in the US and the UK we often say "Season's Greetings" on X-mas cards.

So as to 1- not offend non-Christians, and 2- take away the religious aspect of a Christian holiday in a lay society.

A couple of colleagues at work are also friends on Facebook. One of them is very religious. He blew a gasket. He did not understand how you could separate the religious from the holiday (btw...Holy-Day). He thought the whole thing stupid, but he was, however, open to debate and discussion. He is a journalist after all.

My other friend, not religious at all, had a similar reaction.

He did, however, went down a more cultural route.

Would the Catalonians be willing to rename Saint Jordi's day? Saint Jordi (Saint George), is the patron saint of Catalonia (and Aragon, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as Moscow, Beirut and Barcelona) and on the 23rd of April, Barcelona celebrates the day with lovers giving each other a book and a rose. On that day, Mexico, in accordance with UNESCO, celebrates what is known as Book Day.

I recall it very well from my childhood and when I was told about the celebration in Catalonia, I was surprised to hear about the attached Saintly celebration -Sant Jordi's days.

Needless to say, it is a very beautiful public festivity with the whole city of Barcelona awash with bookstands and flower sellers.

I don't know if they want to rename the festivity, but they might not care. Or they might do.

Part of his argument was tinged by Spanish nationalism versus Catalan nationalism.

In other words, regionalism versus regionalism.

His main argument against the name change was that "it has always been done like that".

I, of course, argued against the danger of any premise that starts with that sentence. Women in Africa are circumcised because it has always been done like that. Women in some Islamic countries are stoned to death if they commit adultery (not the men of course) because it has always been done like that. When I mentioned this, he agreed to the invalidity of that argument. But he still kept to his former view.

Another Facebook friend, who now lives in the US, reminded me that in the Soviet Union Christmas was celebrated eventhough the regime outlawed all religious dates. Much the same continued to happen in Cuba until the regime relaxed its stance. The Pope visited Havana not long ago.

I pointed out to my friend that Christmas was actually based on a previous, pagan, holiday.

Emperor Constantine thought of merging the two so as to not upset too much the pagans (of which, according to historians, he was one until almost his dying day when he was finally baptised).

So the celebration of someone who was, in theory, born in August, is performed in December.

Furthermore, how many people, I asked, do something religious at Christmas? Many do, of course, but here, in Spain, the younger generations are not that religious. And many older people aren't either. Yes, they like the tradition. The look of things. But I think the religious aspect is, often, forgotten or looked over.

I for one am not a great fan of Christmas. Jesus loves you so here's a Playstation. Somehow it does not compute. Yes, as a kid its a good chance to get things, if you are lucky enough to have parents who can do that, and you live in a country where that is done.

But as an adult, yes, I love the presents aspect of it, but little else. Certainly the religious part of the festivity pushes me away.

Would we still get gifts in December even if Christmas was re-christened? Probably. The gift industry needs dates like that.

Furthermore, the Japanese celebrate Christmas. But then Japan is a law unto itself.

Books, Madrid and Spring

AOG, Madrid

Spring has arrived in Madrid. Or so it would appear. After many weeks of cold weather, and sunny skies (a local specialty), the past couple of days have been warmer. Last night I walked home from work with my sweater on and arrived blistering hot. I leave the office around 10:30 at night.

I started walking home about two weeks ago. I need the exercise but the walk allows me to gather my thoughts before getting home and it also shows me a different face of Madrid.

I work in a very elegant neighbourhood and I enjoy looking at all the architectural styles the Salamanca quarter of Madrid has to offer. It was built in the XIX century and from the start it has been where rich Spanish and foreign citizens liked to dwell.

Often I look up and see the beautiful juxtaposition of Art Deco, pre Civil War buildings standing next to turn-of-the-century French style buildings, the odd church, private school or Palace -like the amazing Italian embassy, probably Madrid’s most beautiful embassy building, also known as the Amboage palace.

Last night, as had happened all throughout the day, I could see pollen wafting around the air. I did not notice this last year. I’ve read is plantain pollen. It is fluffy and rather big.

The other sign that Spring has arrived is the opening of Madrid’s Old Books Fair, on Castellana Boulevard.

About 30 stands display their wares and I cant help myself from being naturally drawn to them.

I like to walk around and peruse the remnants of Spain’s literary past. But not only Spain. Often you can find American, French and British novels, Franco-era guides and political documents, old Spanish Stocks and bonds, German art tomes, modern reproductions of XVI century maps of Madrid, as well as a myriad of worn, heavy and probably priceless leather bound books. For me, the covers alone make would be reason enough to buy them.

The first time I went, (last week), there was a gentleman who went from stand to stand asking if they had anything on the Philippines. As long as he hovered around me, nobody did. I wanted to ask him if he was a historian, or, at least, why the interest in that country.

The Philippines, although a one-time colony of Spain, does not really get a lot of airtime in Spain these days. It could be the fact that, unlike the other colonies, it lost the ability to speak Spanish after it was lost to the US in 1898.

Last Sunday I went there again. I saw a book on the Canadian Perception of the American Civil War, written in the 1970s. It looked very interesting and thought about purchasing it. But I didn’t.

Today I had 30 minutes to kill, and couldn’t wait for the stands to open- which they do at 11 am. The book was still there. Four Euros later, it was mine. I find it fascinating. One never reads much on US-Canadian relations.

I also bought a couple of old National Geographics…three for five Euros. One of them had an article on Mexico; the other on the Panama Canal; and the last one on Rio de Janeiro. There was another on Air Safety and West Germany, but I went with a Hispanic theme.

I also saw a beautiful book on Mexico, printed by Mexico’s Italian Institute back in

the 1930s. The photographs were something else. As was the 200 Euros price. But there were more.

I love cartography and maps. I saw two gigantic Atlases of Spain circa 1980s, the price of which I was too afraid to ask. I also spotted art book after luxurious art book on Madrid’s Prado museum. About one per decade since 1900. At one point I was Prado’d out. There are other museums in Spain, though, true, none as important, invaluable or famous.

I will be leaving my desk in a little while. I look forward to seeing something new tonight as I stroll home.

London's Russian vogue

AOG, London

I have been here for a couple of days only. In these few days I have noticed that Russia is very much at the forefront of the British imagination. Not quite the fever pitch all things Russian acquired in Paris in the aftermath of WWI, but certainly something worth noticing.

The Royal Academy of Arts has just closed its "From Russia" exhibition. Itself caught in the middle of the on-going diplomatic row between the UK and Russia regarding the death of an ex KGB agent in the UK by the, supposedly, Russian secret service, something Moscow strongly denies and which the exhibition has gone a long way in defusing- at least according to some. However, the hangover still is being felt. Here and there I saw posters of the exhibition still in place.

Perhaps it didn't last too long?

However, the vogue for Russia, in my experience, has gone a bit beyond that in London town. It is common knowledge that, for a few years now, Russia's nouveau riche have set up shop in London.

Something about the city's ambiance marries quite well with the Russian spirit. Perhaps it is that in Russia, as in Spain, it is commonly believed that, if it is the most expensive you can have, it is also the best one you can have. It does not matter if we are talking about books, homes, cars, clothes, horses or what have you.

Expense equals quality. And nowhere in Europe is as needlessly expensive as London. Perhaps that is the interest of the Russia's newfound Anglophilia.

And the Brits return the favor by favoring a certain a la russe state of affairs. My most tangible example was walking into Waterstones and finding a whole section dedicated to Russian literature.

Leo Tolstoy and his "Resurrection"

Dostoyevsky's "The brothers Karamazov"

Olga Grushin's "The dreamlife of Sukhanov"

Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We"

Andreï Makine's "A life's music"

Viktor Pelevin's "The life of insects"

Nabokov's 'Collected Stories'

Andrei Kurkov's "Death and the penguin" (a copy of which I purchased one day later at a second-hand book shop in Victoria)

Nikolai Leskov's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk"

A collection of "Russian short stories from Pushkin to Buida" and a couple of Gogol titles.

In short, Russia is almost everywhere in London these days.

For some reason, we decided to celebrate my sister's birthday in BALTIC, London's top notch Russian and Eastern European restaurant.

I didn't choose it because of the Russophilia. Instead, I think a slight zeitgeist was at play here.

I for one am quite happy London is so Russia-friendly. I hope it lasts, for everyone's sakes.

Goncourt 1969

AOG, Madrid

Today was one of those sunny Winter days for which Madrid is world famous. After saying goodbye to my partner, I had a Sunday afternoon to kill.

I took a train to Atocha station and walked towards Retiro Park. Once there, the lure of second-hand books (see previous post) was much too tempting.

I spent about an hour shifting through never-heard-of titles as well as a few known ones. I was in the mood for some Latin American literature, and the shops did not disappoint.

I was particularly interested in a couple of books by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier: Ecue-yamba-o! and The Kingdom of this World which belonged to a white leather literary collection with gold lettering which also included (amongst about 90 titles) Lezama Lima's Paradise (1966) and a couple of books by Vargas Llosa. As attractive as they were, they shared one thing which I did not really care for. the price: 10 Euros a piece.

For a second-hand book.

So I looked on, partially scared-off because of the price, and the prospect of adding two more books to my ever-expanding collection of books I never have enough time to read- which is huge.

On that topic, Spanish über author Javier Marías wrote a column a few months ago in El País where he mused about his book collection. It too is probably quite large. He was rather miffed that a visitor to his library had asked if he had read all the books in it. Of course he had! he was surprised at the question. I was surprised at the answer.

Since my youth, I have been an avid book buyer, and an avid reader. However, there just aren't enough hours in my day to read all the books I've bought. Nor all the magazines I own, or all the papers I purchase daily cover to cover.

When I was at University, I remember exchanging opinions with one of my fellow classmates on graduation day. She said something like "Maybe now I'll have time to read all the titles on the reading list!" Oh how we laughed....

But she was right. Perhaps in other centuries, or other decades, time was more abundant, or life (of this I'm sure) went on at a slower pace.

So, for me, having read all the books I own is a bit of a task, a challenge, and an impossible dream. I'm sure I'll die not having finished off a few dozen novels.

Am I the only person who reads a 2-3 books at a time?

In any case, I opted not to buy these titles and walked off. As I reached the last stall, I was still peckish for literature. So I went back up, thinking perhaps I could dish out for Carpentier's books and maybe bargain.

However, before I got there, I found a book I was -at first- of two minds to get: Creezy, by Félicien Marceau.

I am no fan of translated-into-Spanish books and, wherever possible, I try to get an English translation.

But this time, two things made me change my mind: the price (1 Euro) and the words "Winner of the Prix Goncourt 1969". The Goncourt is France's top literary honor and this, coupled with the date -1969, made me buy the book.

I also liked the Brown & Pink cover.

It appears to be typically French in this respect: The main character is this amazing model/it girl who makes this respectable Government high-ranking married man fall in love with her. The novel begins with its aftermath. He is shattered and reminisces over his affair with Creezy.
Just the sort of thing one never reads about in French novels, n'est ce pas?

The title alone is hilarious: Creezy. I don't know if Monsieur Marceau was aiming for a form of Chrissie or if in 1969 the English word "crazy" appeared to be ultra cool and modern, and hence, a good name for a character. Perhaps both? Perhaps just a pun of sorts?

In any case, the good thing is that this fading book, with its brown pages and stiff, almost carton-like paper, seems to be unread. The binding is immaculate.

For a pocket book, quite an achievement.

Sunday afternoon

AOG, Madrid

(Igor Mitoraj sculpture)

The nice thing about living in a major world capital is that it has a lot of cultural events going on most of the time. I don't think of Madrid as a major world capital, though I do think of it as a major cultural city- perhaps more so than Barcelona, but not quite London or New York yet.

Nevertheless, Madrid these days is really into its art and it takes itself very seriously. Wherever you read in the Spanish media, the fact that Madrid has three major museums within walking distance of each other is a source of pride. Art is big business in general. That goes double for Spain, for many a bargain when compared to other capitals such as Paris or New York.

The Prado (Spain's Louvre), the Thyssen, and the Queen Sofia Museum of Contemporary Art- alias the "Reina Sofía"- are all on the same street- the Prado boulevard.

Now, within the same street, Caixa Forum Madrid, a cultural, not for profit, organisation funded by La Caixa, one of Spain's largest savings banks, has opened its doors.

Sporting Madrid's, probably Spain's, first vertical garden, its modern headquarters building in Madrid is less imposing that the other three. As in Barcelona, it has taken a pre-existing building, and remodeled it into something new. I have not been inside of it yet but from the outside it is not a very impressive building, except for its vertical garden which you can see on the photograph at left behind the winged sculpture.

However, what it lacks on the outside, it makes up for in its first public exhibition: the work of Igor Mitoraj.

The Prado boulevard has been peppered beautifully with Igor Mitoraj's sculptures. Neoclassical, postmodern, certainly sensual and at the same time, cold, given their metallic nature.

I discovered it today when I went to visit the "Cuesta de Moyano" (link is in Spanish), an uphill (cuesta) street linking the boulevard with Madrid's Retiro Park and located at the back of the Agriculture Ministry, Madrid's most beautiful ministry building (below).











On the slope you find about 15 covered stands which have been selling second-hand books, as well as new books, since 1925. All sort of literary treasures are found there. My find yesterday was the January 1977 issue of National Geographic. I bought it for the articles on Stockholm and Haiti.

Whilst there, I met up with an improv-class classmate and one of the tutors. We spoke about life in general and how best to get into improv. The sucking of a particular body part was part of the way into improv. Ha ha ha, how we all laughed.

On my way home, I marveled at the sculptures which I had seen in Barcelona a few months ago, at Barcelona's Caixa Forum. And then some.

One of the small pleasures of living in a European capital.

New Year's Day in New York City

AOG, New York

Last day in New York. In a couple of hours I leave for London. I have just dropped Juan off at Penn Station and I'm alone for a few hours. The first alone hours of 2007. Alone, I walked around the streets of New York pretending to live here for a while afterwards. I amazed myself at doing so.

I was asking myself what it was that I would do if I lived here. What my life would be like. Then, I unsurprised myself. I walked a couple of blocks before being drawn to Borders to buy a book I'll never read. Or won't read for months to come. Or years. When I fly to Madrid this new book will sit on a shelf for months before I get to it. As do most of the books I own. Exactly as I would have done in London or Madrid. This proves that wherever you go, your life goes with you. And you go with you too.

I am a slow reader of books, though I am an avid buyer of them. When people ask me if I have read all the books I own (and there are hundreds) I always reply "not yet". I never find the time. I brought a book by Bioy Casares from Madrid to read on the plane. As of yet unopened since I bought it in Buenos Aires last year. I hope to get to it on the way back.

When I left Borders I walked around trying to inhale my last few hours in New York. I wanted to take an impression with me back to Europe. I think I have succeeded.

The heights of the buildings, the low flying clouds today, the lights, the fact that everything is open eventhough it is the first of January. I am no longer in doubt as to why this city is known as the capital of the world. It truly is. I think I was very lucky to be able to be here today. And lucky to have a place to go back to.