San Blas is Your Flu Shot

Last weekend was the festival of Saint Blaise, patron of the wool trade and protector against throat ailments. People bring anise donuts and cookies to church for a blessing and then eat them to ward off illness. Anise is a traditional remedy for coughs, and these confections usually have enough anise to make you feel as if you are exhaling organic solvent, so they can't hurt. The festival of Santa Yageda falls shortly afterwards, which was once the day when soldiers would deploy, so they would go out singing the night before and collect food to make a going away feast. Our evening Basque class was crashed by 30 singers who were observing the holiday in baserritar outfits (19th century farming clothes). One guy was playing a drum and a flute at the same time (naturally the drum was wrapped in plastic because duh, it was raining) and there were three bertsolariak (spontaneous verse singers) who made up elaborate new rhyming song verses on the spot, which is impressive even when you don't understand them. They participate in a serious and respected art form with its own special training schools. Additionally, Carnaval has just begun. Last night a large group of people dressed as a wedding party passed our building while loudly singing Andalusian songs. The brass bands are out in force, and just a few minutes ago, a big group of kids dressed as a zombie wedding party (much better than an actual wedding party, I think we can all agree) blocked the street to perform the Thriller dance, which was broadcast from a rickety makeshift float pulled by a tractor. There is a very serious obsession in this part of the world, especially among kids born during the early 2000s, with Michael Jackson that I cannot explain. It is very difficult for even grumpy cat to stay grumpy, which is most appropriate at this moment as people are stuck at home with the flu, unemployment is inexplicably rising even higher, and the weather forecast mentioned a "truce" for today, which so far means that hail is not alternating with rivers hurtling from the sky. Happy Carnaval!