Travel Tales: Fiesta de la Almudena

Feast of the Patron Saint of Madrid

Two years ago today we happened to be flying into

Madrid to begin a few weeks of traveling around our

beloved Spain.  Arriving in the airport, we noticed it

was deserted.  We took the Metro into the city and

again, no one was around.  We got off in Puerta del

Sol, the center of Madrid and were shocked to see

it so quiet. 

As we pulled our luggage through the

cobblestone streets, heading to our hotel near Plaza

Mayor, we started noticing everyone we saw were

dressed in native costume and mantillas and capes.

Never ones to miss something exciting, we followed

them, luggage and all.  When we walked through the

gates of Plaza Mayor we saw it filled with people.

A few locals told us this was the Fiesta de la Almudena,

the patron saint of Madrid.

We dropped our bags off at our hotel and hurried

back to watch the festivities.  One of the volunteers

happened to be an American exchange student and

she filled us in on what was going to happen.  There

would be a Mass in the Plaza, followed by a procession

through Puerta del Sol and then the statue would be

taken back to the Cathedral where flowers would

be taken.  You needed a ticket to get into the seating

area but we were happy to watch from behind the

barricades.  After awhile the American exchange

student found us and said she could get us in if we

wanted. Of course!  And with that we were ushered

into the the VIP section. 

All was well, we were seated with the local

politicians, the movers and shakers and from

the amount of security, I wouldn't be surprised if

there were a few royals as well.  The Mass began,

the statue was paraded in, our Spanish is not

strong enough to say Mass, but we followed

along in English and the locals seemed happy

that at least we knew how to say the Mass.

When it came time to kneel, there were no

kneelers, you knelt on the cobblestones ~ this

is Spain after all and they take their religion

very seriously.  One thing that we were not

familiar with was the Song Leader (pictured

above), during each song he would stand and

wave his arms wildly to get the crowd singing.

I found him a bit scary.

Sometime before Communion, the inevitable

happened.  When one takes the night flight

across the ocean and hasn't slept for over 24

hours, it happened ~ we hit the wall.  During

Mass in Plaza Mayor, in the VIP section,

behind barricades that would make it very

hard to leave.  We reached that point where

our eyes would not stay open and we each

started dosing and then catching ourselves

and jolting awake.  So now, we look like we

are drunk, in Mass, in the VIP section, behind

the barricades...  I whispered to Mr. W, "We

HAVE to get out of here."  But how?

So we hatched a plan, when people got

up to go to Communion, we would just

slip out.  We didn't realize that Communion

would be given out over the barriers.  There 

was no way out!  Finally, we saw a little

abuelo  (grandfather) slipping between the

barriers and we followed him, not our most

gracious moment but better than the Americans

passing out during Mass.  We followed the

little man as if we were escorting our grandfather

to the restroom.  And then we crashed.

We could hear the procession from our

hotel room but sleep overtook us. 

After a nap we decided to walk over to

the Cathedral in Plaza de la Almudena.

As we were walking there we noticed

everyone was carrying flowers, when we

arrived we saw why, people bring flowers

in adoration of their patron saint.

The Cathedral Santa Maria la Real de

La Almudena is located just across from

the Royal Palace in Madrid.  The reason

La Almudena is the patron saint of Madrid

is because a statue of La Almudena was

brough to Spain by the Apostle Saint James.

The statue was hidden in the city wall of

Madrid in 783 by the Christians as the Moors

were about to take over the city.  Two candles

were lit near the statue when it was enclosed

in the wall.  Two centuries later, Madrid was

liberated but no one remembered where the

statue was.  A procession was held and the

wall crumbled away, revealing the statue

and legend states the candles were still

miraculously burning.

Back in Plaza Mayor, the local Madrilenos

were performing traditional songs and dances

in native costume.

And as night fell in Plaza Mayor, we

did what we always do when we are in

Madrid.  We took our evening paseo, two

laps around Plaza Mayor, before saying

buenas noches.