Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 5:55pm
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Try the ICE club. International Club Estepona.
http://www.theiceclub.es/
Plus - have you visited the fabulous Cribs - Belenes - round the town?
A charming set of Christmas Cribs, the like of which you have probably never seen before!
Belen is the Spanish for the town that in English we call Bethlehem. It is also used for a Christmas Crib - a representation of the birth of Christ with figures.
But it's not just the basic Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, an ox and an ass that you might see in the UK, but something much more elaborate.
Over the Christmas and New Year period the Belenes spring up all over the place in Estepona and indeed all over Spain. There are life-size ones - in Estepona there is one outside the Orchid House, and another more artistic version high on the wall by the Castle in Calle Castillo. There is also the Belén Viviente - the living crib, i.e. with amateur actors. A bit like a Nativity Play, but normally with adults, not children as in the UK, unless it is advertised as a Belén Viviente Juvenil.
But the big show are the different Belenes set up in churches and especially those done by the religious brotherhoods, the Hermandades, with very large Cribs made up of very many small terracotta figures - about 6 inches high.
These Belenes don't just show the scene in the stable by the inn, with the baby in the manger. They show the whole story of Jesus's birth, from a heavily pregnant Mary on a donkey to the flight into Egypt.
And above all, they show the whole town of Bethlehem, with all the inhabitants going about their daily activities. People ploughing, people harvesting, people milking cows and feeding chickens, people cooking, people selling, people buying and making. It's all there.
Think of a trade - it will be shown. A basket maker weaving little baskets. A potter with tiny plates, cups and jars. A washerwoman hanging out socks and shirts. The baker with different loaves. The list goes on and on, and the Belenes are, of course, pretty big.
They wouldn't fit into your front room at home! It takes about a week for a whole team of people to set them up, and just as long to pack them away carefully again at the end.
It is well worth going to see at least one of these, it is fascinating to peer closely and see all the details of everyday life at the time of Christ. I love them!
They are normally available from early December (about the 6th or 7th) to 6 January, opening times usually afternoon and evening. Here are the details of where you can see some of them:
Life-size Belén outside the Orchid House
Life-size Belén in lights, up high on the castle walls in Calle Castillo
Belén de la Hermandad de San Isidro Labrador, displayed in la Casa de las Tejerinas, Plaza de las Flores (Tourist Office).
That one, in the Plaza de las Flores, is the biggest and most spectacular, in my view. The other Belenes are also worth visiting.
Belén de la Hermandad de El Cautivo, in the Casa Hermandad, Calle Jesús Cautivo
Belén de la Hermandad de los Remedios, in the Casa del Aljibe (municipal museum) in the Plaza Blas Infante
Belén de la Hermandad de la Vera+Cruz, in the Casa Hermandad, Calle VeraCruz
Belén de la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, in the Carmen Chapel in the Fisherman's Quarter
Belén de la Parroquia de San Jose, in the San Jose church
Belén de la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, in the Remedios church - the one with the pointy tower
Life-size Belén de la Hermandad del Cristo del Amor, in the Casa Hermandad in the Pasaje del Stmo Cristo del Amor
You will be fascinated by the meticulous detailling of these scenes, and really enjoy spotting different things going on.
I will add, finally, that it is traditional in some parts of Northern Spain in the Belenes to have a "caganer", a dialect word meaning "having a poo". 😁 It's a figure emphasising the abundance of food by discretely going behind a bush to get rid of the result.
Never seen one yet in Estepona! But keep looking.