Letter from Spain #44

No, the 'pointy white hoods' have nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan ...

It’s that time of the year again - Holy Week - when many locals in Spain (particularly in the south of Spain) have to explain to many tourists (particularly from cruise ships) that the cone-shaped hats, or ‘pointy white hoods’ are a symbol of penance, and have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Ku Klux Klan.

Back in 2019, during the last Easter parades before Covid, the owner of one of the oldest shops in Cádiz (Andalusia), even felt the need to put up a sign which said: ‘No Ku Klux Klan. Spanish tradition.’ It was in anticipation of all the tourists’ dumbfounded (or maybe just dumb) questions.

The pastry shop, the Confitería El Pópulo, doesn’t just sell pastries but also souvenirs, such as ceramic, white-hooded figurines. You can apparently purchase these handmade figurines in the shop throughout the year, but they’re prominently displayed during Holy Week. The owner of the shop, however, had become exasperated explaining to tourists that they didn’t represent white supremacist thugs from the United States. The ‘No Ku Klux Klan. Spanish Tradition’ sign went viral on social media. I’m not sure if the sign is still there, but it’s possible.

It’s not just the tourists who get confused. In 2015, the BBC used an image of a procession of pointy white hoods by the ‘San Gonzalo brotherhood’ in Seville to illustrate an article about the Ku Klux Klan. And according to reports, during their first year in Spain in the 1980s, basketball players Joe Arlauckas and Ricky Brown went out for tapas in Málaga and almost ran away from what they thought was a KKK gathering …

So … what are these ‘pointy white hoods’?

Firstly, they’re called capirotes and are used in Spain by members of a confraternity of penitents, or cofradias. They’re part of the uniform of robes, capes, pointed hats and masks worn by these brotherhoods, including the Nazarenos and Fariseos, during the processions and re-enactments of Holy Week, although similar hoods are common in other Christian countries such as Italy.

Traditionally, capirotes were used during the Spanish Inquisition. Those who’d been singled out by the church and condemned for punishment had to wear a paper cone on their head with different signs on it, depending on what doctrine they’d violated, and as a form of public humiliation.

It was then adopted by Catholic brotherhoods to be worn voluntarily to disguise the identities of flagellants - people who flagellate themselves as penance for their sins. The capirotes were supposedly worn by penitents so that the focus wasn’t on them as they repented, but to God. Francisco Goya painted it as ‘A Procession of Flagellants’ between 1812 and 1819.

After the Inquisition, the tradition carried on, but only the brotherhoods of penitents are permitted to wear them during the Holy Week processions.

Francisco Goya’s A Procession of Flagellants (Real Academia de Bellas Artes, Madrid)

But where did the KKK thugs get their inspiration for their own hoods?

The group’s uniform was apparently introduced in the early 20th century by William J. Simmons, who officially established the KKK in 1915. The hoods ensured anonymity of its members so they couldn’t be held accountable for their actions.

According to research, Simmons possibly adopted the cone-shaped hat to copy the outfit present in D.W. Griffith’s classic film, ‘Birth of a Nation’. Others link the use of the pointy hat to ‘folk traditions of carnival, circus and minstrelsy’.

But forget the KKK nutters …

If you’d like to read a full and fun explanation of Spain’s Easter traditions, as well as some Easter recipes, I highly recommened the ‘Food & Fiesta’ Substack posts by Kimberley Silverthorne.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen / Unsplash

Photo by Mario La Pergola / Unsplash

Archive image of sign in the ‘Confitería El Pópulo’, in 2019.

Books, Reviews, Research, News & Events

Forthcoming Events

I’m going to be chatting about A Load of Bull (and The Barcelona Connection) with the journalist and presenter Carrie Frais at a brilliant new English bookshop in Barcelona - the Backstory Bookshop (C/Mallorca 330) - on Friday 19 April. They’ve called the event a ‘Book Launch Party’ to celebrate the re-issue of A Load of Bull, and it will start from 5pm until 7pm. Here’s a link for more details. Please RSVP if you think you can make it, as the bookshop needs to estimate numbers. Hope to see you there!

On Friday 20 September, I will be doing another event at the Secret Kingdoms Bookshop at the C/ Moratín 7 in Madrid. More details will follow in due course …

The Barcelona Connection - Research

In my weekly ‘Letter from Spain’ from #7 right up to #42, I also included notes about all the research I carried out for The Barcelona Connection. Many of the posts include photos and descriptions of locations that appear in the book, from Nîmes, Figueres, Cadaqués, La Bisbal d’Empordà and, of course, many areas of Barcelona. There are also posts about Salvador Dalí’s Hallucinogenic Toreador and ‘The Face’, the Dalí Museum in Figueres, the Picasso Museum and MNAC in Barcelona, even Girona Airport and nearby motorway service station - as well as the G20 Spouse Party, museum visits and ‘art attacks’. I hope the notes about the research are of interest … and I hope you might buy, read and take The Barcelona Connection with you to some of the locations that appear in the book! If you do, please send me a photo and I’ll post it here …

The Barcelona Connection - Book & Reviews

A murder. A kidnapping. A lost Salvador Dalí painting. Just 36 hours to resolve all three. Every crime scene is a work of art …

Benjamin Blake is no ordinary detective. Specialising in the criminal underworld of stolen and forged art, things don’t always go the right way for Benjamin. But when they don’t, he has a stubborn determination to put them right.

Within hours of being sent to Barcelona to authenticate a possible Salvador Dalí painting, Benjamin is left stranded without his cell phone at a service station alongside a bloody corpse in the early hours of the morning, after being savagely attacked with his hire car stolen, together with the painting.

Helped and hindered by the fiery Elena Carmona, pursued by a psychopathic hitman, Benjamin becomes the prime suspect in a politically motivated kidnap and murder. All this on the eve of Barcelona hosting a G20 summit and UN climate change conference, with the police in hot pursuit fearing a wider terrorist threat.

From Nîmes in the South of France, across the border to the sweltering humidity of Girona, Barcelona, Figueres and Cadaqués, The Barcelona Connection is a fast-paced, gripping page-turner sprinkled with black comedy, blending the real with the surreal, art crime and mistaken identity … and where the clues at the crime scene might just be the mirror image of a long-lost work of art …

If you can’t locate a copy of The Barcelona Connection in your local store, it can be ordered from any bookshop simply by giving the ISBN number: 978-1-7393326-1-7.

It is also available in print or as an eBook via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or you can also click here to choose where else to order your copy from.

Click here for the latest reviews on Amazon and on Goodreads.

A review by Michael Eaude of The Barcelona Connection was published in the October 2023 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.’

A review by Dominic Begg of The Barcelona Connection was published 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.

A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid - Book & Reviews

Eighteen years since it was originally published, ‘A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid’ has just been re-issued, with a new introduction, new cover and five extra chapters that were cut from the original book.

It is available in print and as an eBook, and this time worldwide, in both formats. Bookshop distribution is underway but in the meantime you can order the new paperback or digital edition via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or the digital version on Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, or on many other platforms by clicking here.

If you’ve never read the book, I hope you will now acquire a copy and laugh out loud. If you did read and enjoy the original edition, I think you’ll love this new edition with additional chapters! More details about the book and links to many reviews are below.

A LOAD OF BULL - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid

The hilarious true story of an Englishman sent to Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue …

In the late eighties Tim Parfitt blagged his way into a job at Condé Nast in London and from there into a six week stint in Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue. Six weeks turned into nine years, and helping out turned into running the company. Along the way, Tim Parfitt discovered the real 'real' Spain. He never saw a Costa and he certainly never bought an olive grove. Instead, he discovered a booming city in hedonistic reaction to years of fascism, where sleep was something you only did at work and where five hour lunches invariably involved a course of bull's testicles.

Tim Parfitt's rise from unwanted guest to paparazzi-pursued mover in Spain's glamorous social scene is a hilarious comedy of errors. Frothing with a language designed to make foreigners dribble, hospitalised by tapa-induced flatulence and constantly frustrated by the unapproachable beauty of the women parading through the Vogue offices, he nevertheless falls in love with a city, a country and its people - despite the fact he hasn't a clue what they're on about.

You can click here for all the reviews of A Load of Bull on Amazon, as well as on Goodreads.

Links to newspaper and magazine reviews:

‘A hugely entertaining memoir ... frequently laugh-out-loud funny.’ (The Daily Express)

‘Parfitt is no ordinary Englishman … his light touch and neat line in self-deprecating humour perfectly suits this entertaining urban spin on the old tale of Brits having fun under the Spanish sun.’ (The Sunday Times)

‘A love letter to Madrid ... brilliantly captures a truly eccentric and hedonistic place.’ (The Daily Mirror)

‘Often hilarious ... a side-splittingly funny travel memoir.’ (BBC Online)

‘Vivid yet affectionate … fascinating, escapist stuff.’ (OK! Magazine)

‘Magnificent ... brilliant and moving, hilarious and truthful.’ (La Vanguardia)

‘Don't miss it … Madrid through the eyes of an Englishman.’ (Vogue España)

Spanish edition

A Load of Bull was also published in Spanish under the title, Mucho Toro - las tribulaciones de un inglés en la movida. Click here or on image below for the current eBook version.

Contact Details

You can email me at: tim.parfitt@hotmail.co.uk