When the near constant rain stopped later yesterday afternoon and we wandered down to Jalón town square for a beer or two in the scarce sunshine, we watched a small stage being set up. The waitress delivering our beers explained that tomorrow was Dia del Romero [Rosemary Day].
The last Saturday of April is when this holiday is celebrated. Apparently the ladies walk up into the mountains to gather wild rosemary. Traditional buns or small pies are eaten. In the evening there’s a fiesta in the square, hence the need for the stage. Well, why not – any excuse for a fiesta. The next day, folks go to mass and to a benediction for the bouquets of rosemary, which is intended to protect against crop damage from hail.
On this Dia del Romero, we awoke to some good sized patches of blue between scattered clouds, some sun and slightly increased temperatures. My spirits lifted, I donned sandals and even considered zipping off the legs of my convertible trousers. My optimism was short-lived; after an hour or so, the clouds had regrouped and succeeding in capturing the whole sky. The rain returned. The ladies weren’t going to have a great deal of fun gathering wild rosemary, I suspected, and it looked as though the fiesta would be decidedly damp.
All I can say is, the way this weather is going, the locals are going to need all the crop protection they can get from any quarter.
For some reason, a friend on Facebook has recently been posting stuff about haiku. From what I can gather (I don’t “do” poetry), a haiku is a verse of three lines containing 5-7-5 syllables. Inspired by this, here’s one that I think qualifies and which sums up our current predicament.
Constant rain in Spain,
Pour another drink for me,
I feel better now.
Where are the pictures of the traditional buns and small pies? Do they contain rosemary? I expect some more research!
As my dear, departed father might have said, “if you think I’m going out in the pouring rain to photograph soggy baked goods, you’ve got another think coming”.
Our waitress the previous day referred to different families having their own specialities so I suspect contents vary considerably.