Semana Santa - Day 5 - Mostly Mantillas

We had the whole day to wander about the city...  the weather was great and it even got warm enough to shed our jackets by afternoon.

Everyone wears their finest.  Many of the  men will have on suits and ties.  The women are dressed smartly...  often with very high-heel shoes, patterned stockings, and tasteful suits or dresses.  (We haven't seen many t-shirts, and not a whole lot of jeans) 

A typical scene...  a family group having lunch at an outside table.

The pasos (parades) continue throughout the city until Sunday afternoon, but Thursday and Friday of Holy Week are days of mourning...  at least in dress...

On these two days many women wear the traditional "Mantilla".  The Spanish word for blanket is "manta", so translated, the women wear "little blankets" (or veils) on their heads.

 The mantilla is held in place by a rather tall headpiece...  I think traditionally held on ones head by long "comb-like" teeth.  This requires the hair to be pulled back into a bun or chignon.  

 The long veil drapes down the back...  

At the back it is held in place by a clip. 

As we were walking across the bridge we saw 2 very lovely young women approaching.  I wanted to get a photo of them and was trying to be discreet...  hah!  I got busted!  They not smiled and posed for a picture....

 They got on either side of Bill and he got to pose with these two beauties!  Bill is almost 6' tall...  these women are wearing VERY high heels, and with the addition of their headpieces, are quite tall.  Note also their black gloves.  Many of the women were also carrying a rosary.

Okay... so he isn't wearing a mantilla...

We came across our favorite gladiator yesterday...

He always poses for me and gives us a big smile.

We had walked to the supermercado...  which was closed... 

But in the mall were these photos...

Remember me writing that the Nazarenes hand out holy cards to the crowds on the sidewalks?  This is a display of the kind of artwork that is on those cards.

(those 5 colorful circles at the top are just reflections of the stained glass windows in the mall, which was the old train station)

A very distinguished looking couple

 You can see her rosary and maybe a Bible in her right hand.  They are both wearing "lapel" pins which denote which brotherhood, or church, that they belong to.

Among all the classy people, we came across this scene..

A young mother on roller blades...  pushing her daughters stroller along the sidewalk...

The whole street scene can be a conflict to sights and sounds!

Another mujer...  and probably her granddaughter..

All dressed up for the occasion!

I had to laugh when I saw this young woman..

Her mantilla was longer than her skirt...

Those shoes and short skirt just don't quite look like "mourning" attire to me.

When we first started walking around town nearly 2 months ago, I thought there sure were a lot of twins here.

Took me a few days to realize that many families dress their kids alike.  These little girls are probably age 4 & 6.  There was another little girl dressed in blue... just like the little boy.  

The little boys are darling!  They often have on tights, worn with a pair of shorts and often a jacket.  We saw a family with 5 kids the other day... the 4 little girls were dressed alike, the little boy had the same color of tights, with shorts of the same dark green of the girls jackets.  They looked like little stair-steps...  all dressed the same.

Another little girl...

Dressed in her best!

By the way...  you can see how narrow the streets can be - many have one-way traffic only.  The sidewalks are also very narrow... at times Bill & I have to walk single file...  those posts are to keep people from parking on the sidewalks, and maybe to keep pedestrians safe from passing cars.

One last picture of the lovely ladies...

The End 

of another fun adventure!

(Check out those stockings with seams up the back!  When's the last time you saw that?)

That's All For Today!