Letter from Spain #38
Dogs blessed by priests, horses jumping bonfires ... plus TBC notes & research.
I thought I’d heard about most of Spain’s traditions, but I wasn’t aware that 17 January was the day of San Antón (Saint Anthony Abbot, or even Antoni Abat in Catalan), and that hundreds of Spanish pet owners therefore took their animals to church this week to have them blessed by priests with holy water, in celebration of the saint’s day.
According to reports from Madrid, ‘a few dogs barked, but most animals waited patiently to be sprinkled with holy water on the steps of the baroque St Anthony's Church’ in the centre of the city. The priest Angel Garcia then said Mass in front of dozens of pets inside, also to ‘some barking from the pews’.
I didn’t actually take Molly to my local church in Sitges this week (the photo below is from September 2021), because (1) I don’t think they were blessing dogs in my town, and (2) I don’t think Molly would have appreciated it.
Anyway, Saint Anthony the Great, also known as Anthony the Abbot, was an Egyptian Christian monk - and he sounds like he was a decent enough guy. Born in 251 in Egypt, he died in 356, apparently on 17 January - which is why the day has become his saint’s day. According to tradition, he had a special connection with animals and they were often drawn to him. Legend has it that he learnt to communicate with animals during his times alone in the desert. He spoke to them and they spoke back to him - so he was a sort of Doctor Dolittle, I guess.
Anthony was initially known as the patron saint of pigs, because he would preach to pigs, birds and some other animals (and they would listen attentively to his words) - but then he got an upgrade or promotion and eventually became known as the patron saint of all pets.
In art, Saint Anthony is often surrounded by animals, or holding a pig or other animal. The ‘Temptation of Saint Anthony’ is a repeated subject in the history of art, dealing with ‘the supernatural temptation’ reportedly faced by Anthony during his time in the Egyptian desert. It’s been painted by Michelangelo, Bosch, Cézanne, Mattheus van Helmont, among many others - including Salvador Dalí (below), and which hangs in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, in Brussels.
Painted by Dalí in 1946, it shows Anthony kneeling in a desert and holding, in a traditional exorcism gesture, a cross made from two sticks in order to ‘ward off the temptations that are assailing him’. The canvas shows the temptations: Triumph, Sex, Gold and Riches.
As Anthony is believed to have had the ability to heal animals and protect them from harm, the pet owners across Spain who mark San Antón by taking their furry friends to a local church for a blessing, do so in order for their pets to have protection for the year ahead.
This quirky, cute tradition, however, merging religion and superstition, gets out of hand in some areas of the country, where not only dogs and cats get sprinkled with holy water, but geese, ponies, horses, sheep, ferrets and rabbits get dragged out, too.
But like with many things in Spain, there’s a paradox with a tradition that is supposedly meant to celebrate the protection of pets and animals, but which in some towns and villages looks more like they’re simply terrorising them. It’s the same with Spain’s new animal welfare law, that excludes hunting dogs and (of course) bulls.
In areas of Mallorca, people dressed up as devils this week and walked the streets setting off firecrackers for their pets … which the animals must love. But it’s mild to what takes place in the village of San Bartolomé de Pinares in the province of Avila (Castilla y León), where they held ‘Las Luminarias’ to celebrate the eve of Saint Anthony’s Day.
Simply put, around 100 horses jump through bonfires in a ‘purification ceremony’ every 16 January night. At full gallop, the horses emerge from the darkness and race through a string of bonfires in an ancient ritual to ‘ward off sickness’. It apparently dates back to the 18th century when an epidemic devastated the region’s horse population. When the epidemic finally disappeared, people began to believe that the smoke protected the animals … and that’s how the tradition continues.
Despite criticism from animal rights groups over the years, organisers insist that the horses are never harmed due to precautions taken by riders to cut horse hair and avoid burns. Every year (although it was cancelled during Covid), the event is attended by vets and firefighters brought in by the local authorities.
This week, the Spanish animal rights party PACMA, ‘Partido Animalista Con el Medio Ambiente’ (that also makes a brief appearance in The Barcelona Connection!), campaigned once more against the tradition, posting the following message and video on X (formerly Twitter):
‘One more year, we document the mistreatment of the horses of the Luminarias de San Bartolomé de Pinares. Last Tuesday the horses were forced to jump over the flames, in an absurd tradition. We ask that the authorities prohibit these “celebrations” that only cause stress and danger.’
What would Saint Anthony the Great think? What do you think?
This past week in Spain, we’ve also had more on the so-called Catalan Operation and CatalanGate. I spoke about this and other Spanish news on the radio, in my fortnightly discussion with Giles Brown on Talk Radio Europe. Below is the chat from Wednesday 17 January if you’re interested:
The Barcelona Connection - Research
I will start posting some notes about Chapters 78 onwards from next week …
Previous links to my research notes are here:
Chapter 66 in Letter from Spain #37 (Séverin and Hendrik)
Chapters 59 and 63 in Letter from Spain #36 (Benjamin visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres).
Chapters 50, 52 and 57 in Letter from Spain #35 (Benjamin on the train to Figueres).
Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #34 (G20 Spouse Party, museum visits and ‘art attacks’).
Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #33 (Picasso Museum).
Chapters 39 and 42 in Letter from Spain #31 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).
Chapter 36 in Letter from Spain #29 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).
Chapter 29 in Letter from Spain #28 (Nîmes to Barcelona and tollgates).
Chapters 28 and 32 in Letter from Spain #27 (Pedralbes and Jaume, the Marquès de Guíxols).
Chapter 26 in Letter from Spain #26 (pijos and Beltrán Gómez de Longoria).
Chapter 25 (again) in Letter from Spain #25 (Benjamin’s thoughts on Púbol, Figueres and Port Lligat-Cadaqués).
Chapter 25 in Letter from Spain #23 (Benjamin and Elena on the Passeig Marítim).
Chapters 22 and 24 in Letter from Spain #22 (Plaça Sant Jaume & Nîmes).
Chapter 21 in Letter from Spain #21 (the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya - MNAC).
Chapter 18 in Letter from Spain #20 (Nîmes).
Chapter 16 in Letter from Spain #19 (Marta Soler visiting the offices of La Vanguardia).
Chapter 15 in Letter from Spain #18 (Sants, Les Corts and the Plaça de la Concòrdia).
Chapter 14 in Letter from Spain #17 (introducing Inspector Vizcaya and Marta Soler).
Chapter 13 in Letter from Spain #16 (the painting - the possible study of The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dalí).
Chapters 10 and 12 in Letter from Spain #15 (Isabel Bosch and Lieutenant Trias).
Chapters 8 and 11 in Letter from Spain #14 (Benjamin at Girona Airport and finding the Marqueses’ home in La Bisbal).
Chapter 7 in Letter from Spain#12 (Séverin and Jürgen).
Chapter 5 in Letter from Spain#11 (Elena in Girona).
Chapters 3-4 in Letter from Spain#9 (Marcos Constantinos in Hampstead, plus Benjamin at the UEA & Stansted).
Chapter 2 in Letter from Spain#8 (the home of the Marqueses de Guíxols, not far from La Bisbal d’Empordà).
Chapter 1 in Letter from Spain#7 (Benjamin waking up at the service station).
The Barcelona Connection - Reviews, News & Events
Links to reviews & articles
A review of The Barcelona Connection by Michael Eaude has been published in the October edition of Catalonia Today.
‘Short, fast-moving scenes and the deft joining of two completely different plots … the novel is not just breathlessly rapid and action-packed, but overflows with humour and satire.’
‘The excellent plotting, the local knowledge, the surreal humour, the political satire and the speed of events … it’s an admirable and very readable crime novel.’
Here’s the link for a review of The Barcelona Connection by Dominic Begg that came out in La Revista, a publication of the British-Spanish Society.
‘The Barcelona Connection is a fast-moving page-turner with a helter-skelter plot.’
‘The background to this thriller is realistic and familiar to those who know Barcelona well. It’s a world of cynical, ambitious politicians; civil servants promoted via enchufe; friction between Spanish and Catalan investigators; disruptive anti-capitalist activists; bumbling US dignitaries and security guards; the continuing influence of old supporters of Franco; the soulless 21st century, exemplified by apartment hotels seemingly without human staff-members …’
Here’s a link to a review of the book by Eve Schnitzer published by the Spain in English online newspaper.
‘Tim Parfitt very cleverly weaves together two parallel though quite different stories, set against the background of a contemporary Barcelona that is even busier than usual with major international meetings.’
‘Two plot lines interweave, with some highly ironic as well as suspenseful results … this book has a lot to offer the reader, from pure entertainment to solid information and, possibly, a fuller understanding of the complexities of Spain and Catalonia in particular.’
Here’s the link to an article I was asked to write for The Art Newspaper about my research on Salvador Dalí.
You can also click here for the latest reviews on Amazon, as well as on Goodreads and at Barnes & Noble.
The book is available on Amazon or you can also click here to choose where else to order your copy from. It can also be ordered from any bookshop simply by giving the ISBN number: 978-1-7393326-1-7.
You can also click here for the Kindle edition of A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid.
For professional enquiries and foreign rights for The Barcelona Connection, please contact my agent Justyna Rzewuska at the Hanska Literary & Film Agency.