Ku Klux Klan? No, only Easter in Sevilla

March 25

This morning we woke up at what has now become an unnaturally early hour - 9am - to get ready for our walking tour of the city.  We enjoyed our last tour of the Alcazar with Concepcion so much that when we found out that she also gave a walking tour of the entire city, we jumped at the opportunity.

We were the first to arrive at the square, but were soon joined by about 6 others, all from different countries - France, the Netherlands, America, Slovenia, all were represented.  What a Benetton ad!  Even though we had not been in Seville a full week, I wish we had gone on the tour even earlier because it did such a great job in orienting us about the city as well as explaining some cultural customs that had really begun to confuse us.

The biggest puzzle has to do with  a decoration that Marco and I kept seeing in store windows.  The closest thing that I can compare it to is truly the garb of a KKK member - a white sheet draped over the body and even the tall cone covering the head, it was all there.  The life-sized mannequins in store windows never failed to make me jump a little when I came across one, and once I even spotted miniatures made out of chocolate in a candy shop.

However, Concepcion quickly explained that it was actually a religious costume associated with one of the upcoming festivals - Semana Santa (the Holy Week).  Marco and I knew exactly when that was happening because rent spikes up during that week to be around 4 times what is typically charged.  Huge parades and floats of religious symbols go through the city.  Apparently, people also put on those strange costumes I just described and they actually identify the fraternity to which the wearer belongs by the color of the cone.  Apparently people would have to go to specialty stores to have the costume tailored to fit.  This practice has been around for centuries, certainly older than the KKK has been in existence.
 

On a Man-Hole Cover

Another puzzle had to do with strange signs that we saw all over the city with the writing "No8Do."  I could see them hung up on flags, on trams, even on man-hole covers.  Taken literally, "Nodo" sounds just like the word meant for a "knot," which explains the symbol of the 8, and stands for unity.  It is also the official motto of Sevilla. However, Concepcion told us of a much more romantic story associated with the motto.  The 8 represents a skein of yarn, which in Spanish is a madejar. When that word is substituted, the entire phrase "no madejar do" sounds just like "no me ha dejado" which means "Has Not Abandoned Me".  Apparently, a past King awarded the city with the phrase when he ascended the throne because of the faithful support of the citizens of Seville. The city then adopted it into the official motto, and that is why it can been seen absolutely everywhere.

However, Marco's and my favorite part of the tour was when Concepcion actually lead the group right to where we lived.  I had no idea that the square outside our apartment was so important!  She used the square to explain that many streets and squares in Seville may have more than one name - often, locals will tend to refer to a location by either its original name before it has been modernized. Therefore, although the modern name of our square was Plaza de Jesus de Redencion, everyone actually knows it by its original name, Plaza de Pan (Bread plaza).  Marco and I burst out laughing when we heard that because in Spanish, Marco's last name - Phan - is read just like Pan. So we chose exactly the right place to live after all!

The tour was a huge success.  Concepcion and I quickly became friends - she had actually traveled to Shanghai before, much to my astonishment.  I really hoped that she would have time to grab lunch with us after the tour but unfortunately, she had another tour almost immediately afterwards. However, she promised that she would make time for lunch the next time we decided to take an afternoon tour with her, which will be very soon I'm sure.

After lunch, Marco had to work, so I decided to venture out alone into the city for the very first time.  I have to say, up to this point, I have completely been relying on Marco to give me directions, so I was extremely unsure at my ability to navigate these winding streets.  Luckily, we came prepared with long-distance walkie talkies (obviously Marco's idea).  He was actually excited to finally use them and thus shooed me out of the apartment and made me speak to him every five minutes so we could test the range.  I looked like a huge dork walking through the city speaking into that thing, but it did come in very handy when I discovered the market I wanted to go to closed at 3pm and had to reroute to another part of the city.

I guess even I have to admit that looks need to be sacrificed during times of need!!!