Candle shopping in Málaga

We all got up early enough to have breakfast and make sure there was no rushing around to be done before Ann and I left for the airport train. We caught the ten twenty and it was packed all the way, and made extra congested with the number of electric scooters as well as baby buggies and aircraft bound suitcases. We were in the terminal and saying farewell by five past eleven, giving her more than enough time to make her way through a distant departure gate. 

I continued my journey to Málaga Alameda on the next train and walked up Calle Dos Aceras skirting the old town walls to the Liturgical supply tienda 'Nazaret', run I believe by a community of Sisters. I was here to buy a couple of baptismal candles, and two Paschal candles, one for St Andrew's and the other for the chapel in Alhaurin, as it's become a tradition there for Anglicans to supply one. 

The conversation was entirely in Spanish, and it wasn't difficult to make myself understood. I looked at various sizes, and found a really tall one for Alhaurin was too heavy to handle, especially as I had carry two back. I settled for ones that were sized 70 and 60cm tall. Girth is a problem when nobody seems to have made a note of the exact dimensions of the candle holders involved. The Sister who dealt with me was surprised to find I'd come on foot by public transport and kindly improvised handles from masking tape to enable me to carry one in each hand. 

The cost was nearly a hundred and forty euros. I guess there's been a price hike in the cost of candles too, as they're mostly made of paraffin wax, an oil based commodity. Pure beeswax large candle prices would in any case be astronomical these days. It's good there are church people who will recycle the wax from old candles into product for sale a church fairs.

I suppose the combined weight of the candles was no more than a couple of bags of groceries, but their length meant the arms had to be slightly flexed to carry them without touching the ground. An exercise in concentration on the walk back to Alameda. Fortunately the streets were not as crowded as the train turned out to be in both direction, so the job was done without mishap and the candles deposited in the church office, before going up the hill to Casa del la Esperanza, where Clare had lunch ready, perfectly timed, to welcome me back.

Concerned to ensure Ann got off in time I forgot to take extra money to pay for the candles. Fortunately my Post Office money card had enough to cover the first hundred euros, and I covered the remainder en effectivo. Very pleased to have negotiated this entirely in Spanish without becoming tongue tied when I realised my omission.

After lunch I needed a rest, then I worked on homilies for Wednesday and Good Friday for a couple of hours while Clare went out for a walk. I made supper, and  spent the evening watching live processions on the Málaga TV YouTube channel. In one video vignette, the Cofradia de Los Estudiantes was to be seen and heard singing 'Gaudeamus Igitur' a student drinking song known in international academia, said to date from the thirteenth century, celebrating the joys of life and the inevitability of death. I remember hearing it sung on the street here by this cofradia in Semana Santa 2018. 

Co-incidentally the place where this was being broadcasted from was in the processional recorrido nicknamed 'La Tribunal de los Pobres'. I passed by there this morning, as it's at the junction between the road running up the bank of the rio Guadalmina and Calle dos Aceras, where the church shop is located. Parts of Málaga's old town have become as familiar to me as my native Cardiff.

I've noticed that when some of the processions visit the Cathedral the exit of the trona de la Virgen after the prayers of dedication is preceded by a mediaeval anthem in her honour, sung by on of the choirs of the region. Just as with the many bands used in the processions, it's a busy time for musicians, whether they play for love or for money.

It's several days late appearing on Llandaff diocesan website, but today I've been able to download the new quarterly intercessions list. Unfortunately it's still full of errors, not at all a good advertisement for the diocesan communications team. There's simply no information available about who the editor is, to make contact and offer them updates and corrections.