We were shopping at AKI in Fuengirola the other day (our version of Home Depot, which — if you don’t know — is a USA chain of home-improvement and construction superstores). As I browsed the Christmas aisles, I came across a very popular outdoor decoration that I wrote about during our first Christmas in Sevilla (click here).
In the USA, Santa can often be seen climbing a rope ladder hung from a window. Not the “real” Santa, obviously. Everyone knows he and his reindeer land on the roof. (Although, our 6-year-old great-niece, Eloise, wants to know how they all land on the roof without waking everybody up and — while she’s on the subject — how Santa and the reindeer fly in the first place. “It doesn’t make any sense!”)
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| CLIMBING THE SHELVES OF CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. |
But, back to my point. Instead of rope-ladder-climbing Santas, Spain more often has rope-ladder-climbing Wise Men. AKI had great rope-ladder climbing Wise Men and I was tempted to buy them, especially since they sell out early in the season. But, the price was €16.50 and I could imagine, in our cyclonic winds, seeing them ripped viciously from our terrace and swept into the sea.
When I was very little (and kind of dense), I first heard people talking about the Three Wise Men and I didn’t quite understand. I wondered who the Weissmans were and why they were so important.
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| 2011: SAFER IN SEVILLA FOR FIVE WEISSMANS (AND SANTA). |
Older, No Wiser (Weisser?)
When I was in junior high school, after my first year of Spanish language lessons where I learned about “albondigas” (meatballs) — click here for that — I no longer thought about the Weissmans. But I could never remember the names of the Three Wise Men.
In my mind, they were Shadrock, Meeshock, and Albondigas (although I always knew Albondigas couldn’t be right). I later realized those were the names (well, sort of) of the three men in the bible famous for being saved— by divine intervention — from being burned alive. Except their names were really Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And, as long as I’m confessing: We used to drive by a billboard on Long Island. It read: “Jesus Saves.” I thought it was an advertisement for a bank.
And, yes, I’m an atheist.
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| ALBONDIGAS (BALTAZAR) IN SEVILLA 2012. |
