Nostalgia

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Los momentos más bellos.

Es la temporada

Cada año, al lado de La Catedral, cientos de personas caminan por el laberinto de tiendas que representan el comienzo de la Navidad. Sin darse cuenta, cada tienda su propia historia con sus figuras y tradición. La Casa del Belenista no es una excepción. Este establecimiento ha continuado la tradición de Navidad por más de sesenta años, los últimos cuarentas con la dueña Aurora, una mujer de negocios y la tradición.

Esta es una tradición nuestra. La Navidad, especialmente en Andalucía tiene un significancia diferente de otros. Se puede encontrar más reliquias de santos que árboles de Navidad,” dice Aurora, la dueña de La Casa del Belenista, una tienda anual que está en la calle Feria de Sevilla.

“La Navidad es tan importante aquí y por eso, a pesar de la crisis, no he perdido clientes, solamente un poco dinero.¨ Aurora habla con una intensidad que muestra su éxito como una dueña profesional de una tienda competitiva. No solo vende durante la temporada de Navidad, sino también durante todo el año.

“Empecé con mi marido e hijo hace treinta y tanto años. ¿O cuarenta y algo?” Aurora nos pregunta. Pero, hoy, Aurora es la sola persona que está trabajando y se parece que es suficiente.

Waiting on Miracles

For many people in Seville, saints are like comic
superheroes: someone to ask for extraordinary help in
times of need. Devotees of Saint Judas Tadeo, a nun and
two members of a theater play about the Virgin Mary
explain what these sacred figures mean for them.

Text: Michelle Sanchez

As the waiter approaches the table to take our order, he immediately
recognizes them. A grin spreads from one ear to the other, taking up most
of the space on his face. He interrupts Lola midsentence. “What you guys
did with the lights in your last show, Carmen, confía, was brilliant. It left
me mesmerized as I watched the performance on stage”.

Lola Marmolejo and Juanma Buzón have been partners for many
years in life and in the work place. Working with the theater company
Bastarda Española and its director, Antonio Campos, they have put on
more than 200 shows. More than 25,000 people have attended their plays,
which include Carmen, confía and Estrella Sublime. The waiter leaves
and Juanma continues were Lola left off: “If I had to describe Lola as a
superhero, she would be an invisible one; she takes the stage by night, but
off stage she likes to keep to herself and go unnoticed.”

For 11 years Lola has dedicated her life to playing the role of the
Virgin Mary, portraying realistic views of religious myths and conveying
the importance that people have placed on religious figures.

“The Virgin suffers like any other woman, or human for that matter,
but people expect great things from her,” She explains. With lines like, “I
am the Virgin, not President Obama,” Lola brings the holy mother of God
down to an earthly level. “The Virgin is a unicorn character, but even she
has her limitations,” Juanma says as he sips his coffee and Lola smiles
from the other side of the table.

Crossing her legs, Lola appears to be smaller than she already is. As she
creates even more room in her loose winter dress, she says: “So long as
there is a crisis, people will hold on to their beliefs; so long as there is
something to ask for, they’re going to keep on asking.”

It’s a Saturday morning and as the people walk into the small courtyard
of the San Antonio church on Alfonso XII street, they all seem to gravitate
towards the statue of Saint Judas Tadeo. Stopping at his altar before
reaching the church doors, the mass of bodies spread out, giving each other space to pray. She walks from where she stood behind the crowd and as she makes it to the front she holds her arm out to the wall, looks up at Saint Judas and then looks down.

“Make use of this particular privilege given to you to achieve visible
and quick help where it is almost impossible. Come to my assistance in this
great need so that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all
my needs.” María Lara finishes her prayer and steps out of the crowd. With
wet eyes she says, “I have been coming here for 25 years to pray to Saint
Judas Tadeo because my mother brought me here since I was a child and he
has always helped me.”

“I do not pray to all of the saints, I only pray to the ones that are closest
to me,” says Carmen Carmona, one of the few other people who graciously
spare a few moments to talk about the Catholic martyrs.

Ludris Úbeda (confirmar este nombre, ¿Ludris?), a woman
accompanying Carmen, adds: “I pray everyday without a doubt to Saint
Judas, Saint Antonio, Saint Expedito and the Virgin, for good health and
work. I pray that they take care of my children and grandchildren.” If one
thing is apparent among the hundreds of red-lit candles and flowers that
crowd the floor near the saint, it’s that there is plenty of faith in miracles
here in Seville.

The role of a saint is much greater than its religious aspect. The saints
have become part of the culture intertwined with the daily life of the
Spanish Catholics. Figures of saints inhabit almost just as many homes
as Spanish people do. From churches to houses, to restaurants and bars,
you can find one of these familiar figures in paintings or sculptures almost
everywhere.

“My mother’s friend died a few weeks ago,” says Álvaro Langford,
speaking to me in English. “She lights a candle for her in our home,
every night. It’s the fear of death that makes people pray so much; they
believe that the saint holds special powers and that they can protect us,” he
explains. “I can not say that I am really religious, but when I come across
one of these figures, I get a rush of emoción, not because of the religion,
but because of the culture.”

Semana Santa, the Holy Week, is one example of religion and culture
mixed together. In this age-old holy tradition, one is guaranteed to see
shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ and as many saints as
you can imagine. This is not just a celebration for Catholics, because nearly
the whole town participates. As the streets shut down, so that processions
can take place, you begin to see people of all ages coming out and joining
in the commemoration of the Passion of Christ. The band plays its tunes,
making the emotional ceremony much more intense.
But why celebrate these figures? How is it that they have come to be
worshiped by the whole city and by millions of other people across the world?

“Take away the plastic and you are left with the same thing: two
invented stories about people with powers who save the day,” says Lola
Marmolejo comparing the idea of comic book hero’s like Superman with
the idea of a saint. The only thing missing really in the second case is the
cape.

“What we try to express through the play Estrella Sublime is that people
spend too much time looking up, waiting for someone to help them, when
in reality the Virgin and the saints were all just as human as anyone else at
one point. People think when they ask something of the Virgin like, ‘Help
me find work,’ boom, she is automatically going to make it happen with
her magic wand, But no, the Virgin says it takes a lot of hard work to make
a miracle happen.”

Sister Adela, from the Madre de Dios monastery, agrees with Lola’s
viewpoint. “Saints are not really superheroes, they are merely role models.
They’re everyday people who have learned to live each day of life with
love, love for God. People ask for a huge amount of things from saints
because they view them as the medium between here and heaven. The
people pray because they have faith that the saints are doing what they can
to help God in that world as they did in this one.” Although sister Adela
believes we should all have faith, she says that better than waiting for
miracles, we should try and help ourselves, work hard and live everyday
with love.

Juanma Buzón concludes: “People will continue to seek out
explanations for things that happen in this world. They will continue to ask
for help in times of need. If there wasn’t religion, people would invent it.”

Las Letras de Sevilla

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Aunque no vi el documental sobre Helvetica, si vio todo los diferente tipos de textos que arman las paredes de Sevilla. Por todas partes hay diferente diseños de palabras y letras que van desapercibidos porque muchas veces gente no piensa en el arte y trabajo que va a tras de estos diseños. Como tarea sali a la Alemeda, un sitio donde paso mucho de mi tiempo y tome fotos de los diferente usos de fuentes aquí en Sevilla.

Películas del festival de cine europeo 2011

1.) Si tenias la vida de alguien en tus manos, tomaras el tiempo para tratar de salvar lo o solo lo dejaras par alguien mas para decidir? Eso fue la cuestión en la película Rusia llamado 12. En la película 12 el jurado decide si un joven checheno es culpable del asesinato de su padrastro, un oficial del ejército ruso. Al principio parece que el niño era el asesino, hasta que uno de los miembros del jurado voto a favor de que no era.  Durante la película las horas pasan tratando de desarrollar el escenario del incidente hasta que uno a uno todo los miembros bienes  a la conclusión de que el niño estaba enmarcada.   De todas las películas que vi, 12 fue mi favorita, te deja queriendo saber mas durante toda la película.

Sample Super Hero Editorial Note “This Looks like a Job for…”

“Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman!”…Oh wait its just the local deli man.

Many times when we hear the word superhero we automatically think of the men that fill the pages of comic books, who fly around in capes, and can see threw walls, but real superheroes have had a place on this earth long before our beloved Superman, Spiderman, and Luke Skywalker were invented.

Though our fellow man may not be “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” he obtains the power to help, give, and inspire, all without ever asking for anything in return.  These small generous and sometimes courage’s actions are seldom ever fully acknowledged, as heroic acts, but it is these small selfless actions that make up the traits of a true superhero.

Jorge Morillo; no tu hombre típico.

“No hay separación entre mi vida y mi trabajo. No soy de una familia tradicional. Mi abuelo era un borracho. Mi mama tenia una tumor que la dejo paralizada de un lado. Mi papa no dejo que la enfermedad de mi mama le hiciera faltar de amor por ella. El tenia muy claro que tenia ha esta persona y que quiera tener un proyecto de vida con esta persona. No viene de una familia católica. Viene de una familia humilde. Mi mama era la que me enseño que todo el mundo es bueno. Ella me enseño que seres humanos tienen capacidad de hacer cosas maravillosas. Todo esto me ha influido mucho con mi propio amor y el trabajo que hago con la gente que vive en los chabolas de Sevilla.

Fue cuando tenia 21 años que descubrí en el semanario que la biblia era la palabra de dios y  descubrí a mi vocación; la educación. Soy católico prácticamente pero no hablo nada de la religión porque creo que la religión no hay que hablar la hay que vivir la.

Hoy Tengo 54 años y he dedicado 27 años a mi proyecto. Fue al los 23 años cuando descubrí que es importante jugar y ayudar a los niños. Hora trabajo con los niños pobres en barrios afuera de Sevilla. El Fútbol asido un gran parte de mi vida entonces empecé a usar el tema del deporte con los niños. Soy del mundo de futbol. Pues juego con los niños de fútbol. Mi objeto es enseñar la humildad atrás del deporte. Es muy divertido un balón y los niños son como esponjas. He trabajado con mas que 3.000 chicos entre los años del proyecto.

No soy un proyecto de la universidad soy un proyecto de mi mismo. Soy autodidacta y quiero servir a la comunidad. Creo que la educación puede cambiar una cosa concreta y en mi trabajo trato de plantear cosas impresionantes a los niños para que sus mentes pueden crecer y para que van a otros sitios afuera de los barrios en que viven.

No tengo cosas materiales y no gano dinero haciendo esto pero lo hago por el amor. No hago todo esto para que otros lo vean, lo hago por mi mismo.  Unos años pasados un chico me dijo ‘gracias a ti somos gente normal”, esto fue suficiente para mi saber que “En un mundo violento necesitamos el amor, el cariño, el contacto.” Mucha gente se olvida de la gente pobre porque no son ricos o inteligentes pero yo creo  que la gente sencilla es muy profunda, es la gente normal que es muy complicada.  Mis dificultades siempre son exterior, vienen de la economía o de gente que no entiende lo que hago y no me dan una instancia para explicarme.

Mi color favorito es verde porque es el color de la esperanza. Me visto de verde, mi coche es verde, mi cruz es verde; rodeo mi vida en la esperanza. Nunca he intentado un plan negativo, siempre he intentado la mirada positiva. Creo que necesito formarme y necesito aprender para dar un mejor servicio. La vida es aprendido a través de lecciones, eso es lo que es ser humano. Si tenia que explicar mi proyecto y mi vida en un solo frase, yo diría que es un proyecto de dios.”