Wyona, I was in the perfect place at the perfect time to buy these for you, but I was there a couple of days before I saw your request. Now I have gone back to the plaza in front of the cathedral and the stalls that lined the plaza are gone as are the pooper and all of the nativity figures. Still I have not quit looking for you.
I will continue to keep my eyes open but when I asked about a sale, the local people said no – no sales. The figures appear before Christmas and then are packed up and go of finto the night, not to appear again until the next Christmas.1. I found the perfect set for me in the window of a bakery shop. Joaquim entered the shop with me, or should I say, I with him, because he wanted some back up so that the woman would know it was me and not him who was out doing this shopping. The baker said that the beautiful bone set I was eyeing in her window had been purchased years ago and that I should look in the square at Barcelona.
2. I was looking at Roza´s set today, and this time picking up the figures, turning them over, seeing what they were made of, and wondering why I keep getting the message that these figures are purchased over a life-time. They are so expensive that I can see why people add them one at a time. I turned over a 3 x 4 inch block of cork painted to look like the white rows of buildings that rise on the hills of Spain. I saw the price; 11 euros just for that little block, so I imagine that a starter set might easily come close to 100 euro, and for that you might not get any of the other figures like the Roman soldiers, the woman washing clothes, the dancer with her tambourine held high, and the farmer with his ox cart. What I want are the cute arches and stairs and sets of houses up on mountains. Roza tells me that the price on the one she bought is about right and don´t pay more.
3. The other important part of the set is the landscape. Large pieces of bark are part of the scene, three of them stacked to look like a manager (though the bakery shop had used crostini to form a stable). The large chunks of bark also act as hills and mountains. I have collected similar pieces myself at the lake, so we have that already. Green moss acts as ground cover which is also readily available. Flat oval shaped stones that are about one to 2 inches long service as borders, and finally the ground s fines and. All of those items we can set aside during summer at the Shuswap. It is just the little figures that we need. However, it is the Spanish landscape simulated as part of the Pesebre that makes this so cute. This was even the case of the one I saw in the church in Barcelona, for they had tall reeds in the background, the same ones that I see along the side of the roads. I ask people for the name of that plant and they see it so often they just call it plant. When I got close, I thought it might be bamboo, for it has the look of bamboo on the stem.
4. Oh yes, besides that little pooper, there is another necessary figure to be purchased. Apparently little devils came up out of the ground and tried to disuade the shepherds from going to see the creche, so many of the scenes have one or more of those devils lurking behind some bush or tree. And in fact, there is a play going on Jan 2nd about this very event, but we shall be out of town and miss the retelling of that terrifying part of the story. Conerning the pooper, I saw him in his traditional peasant costume with a red hat. As well, you could make a hobby of collecting poopers for every well known political or musical figure is also in the same shape, but I am passing on those since it would be somewhat ahistorical to add them to the Nativity Scene.
Arta
Before eyes are fully open in the morning, David´s Catalan cousins are heard to ask if the Wisemen have been moved yet a few steps closer to the manger. December 6th has the anticipation I had for Christmas as a child. ¨How many more days until Els Tres Reis was asked as we drove home today from Montserrat. Only three days until we see them in a parade. Apparently it was not the laps of the wisemen that the children sat in on the 26th of December. It was only their helpers. We only get to see the Wisemen from a distance during a grande parade. Candies will be tossed from the Parade Flots. When David and his cousins are in a store and get to choose a candy to buy, they do not seem to ever choose ¨Caramels¨ (think sugar hard candy in flavors like lime, lemon, cocacola). However, these are HOT commodities when they have been passed out by El Home del Nassos (The man of the noses) or Els Reis (The Wisemen) throughout the holidays. In fact, scouring the streets for those that have not made in into waiting hands is encouraged and pursued.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention, the rivers in the Nativities are made with tin foil. The Wisemen in the set at Rosa and Jordi´s house will soon be crossing one of these rivers over a cork bridge at they near the manger.
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