Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/38

[22] jumble of mountains, down the bosoms of which they flow; most of these abound in trout, and those which disembogue into the Bay of Biscay, in salmon. As good tackle is not to be procured in Spain, the angler will bring out everything from England. The best localities are La Granja, Palencia, Avila, Cuenca, and the whole country from El Vierzo, Galicia, the Asturias, the Basque provinces, and Pyrenean valleys.

Religion has long been mixed up most intimately in every public, private, and social relation of Spain, as in all Catholic countries. The priesthood in Spain have, however, lost a great deal of their influence; the enforced banishment of the holy orders, consequent upon the popular émeute of 1834, was followed by the royal decree of the 17th July, 1867, which abolished the innumerable holidays and saints’ days, with the exception of Christmas Day, All Saints, Ail Souls, St. Peter and St. Paul, St. James, together with seven others held in honour of the Virgin. The church ceremonials, on grand days, although now much shorn of their original splendour, are still very grand, and should always be visited, and especially when celebrated in honour of the tutelar saint or miracle of any particular district: local costumes and manners will be best studied at the Fiestas y Romerias, the Festivals and Pilgrimages to some high place or shrine, and at the Veladas, the Wakes or Vigils, the German Kirchwethe, which in a fine climate are at once attractive and picturesque. Akin to these are the Ferias or fairs, a word which also has a double meaning for the Spaniards, who, imitating the Moors at Mecca, have always been permitted to combine a little traffic with devotion. These local festivities have, however, sadly fallen off from the large attendance they had on their first establishment.

The principal local saints, sites of pilgrimage, and leading fairs will be mentioned in their respective places: travellers curious in these festivals should endeavour to be at Valencia, April 5; at Andujar, April 28; Madrid, May 15; Ronda, May 20; and Santiago, July 25; and should always remember to be in some great city during the Holy Week or Semana Santa (Seville is the best), and during Corpus Christi, a moveable feast which takes place the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and is celebrated everywhere in Spain with great pomp, especially at Seville, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, and Toledo. The Services connected with the dead on the days of All Saints and All Souls in the beginning of November deserve notice; also the festivities of Christmas and Carnival time, which are more joyous, and very national and peculiar.

Ronda.

Gibraltar.

Alhama.

Malaga.

Granada.

Lanjaron

Elche.

Cuenca.

Toledo

Escorial.

Avila.

Placensia.

Yuste.

Batuecas.

El Vierzo.

Cangas de Timeo.

Oviedo

Pajares.

Reinosa.

Santander.

Bilbao.

Vera.

Jaca.

Huesca.

Pyrenees.

Manresa.

Montserrat.

Rosas.