{"id":752,"date":"2020-01-07T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=752"},"modified":"2020-01-07T10:06:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T10:06:05","slug":"more-than-twelve-days-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/01\/07\/more-than-twelve-days-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MORE THAN TWELVE\nDAYS OF CHRISTMAS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nall started for us on Friday December 6th<\/sup> with an event that is\nall-inclusive and is always elegant, cheerful and bright. The Princessa Yaiza\nHotel has been inaugurating a Christmas lights display for several years and by\nnow they have them running like clockwork, even if it is rare for clocks to\nwork at all in their pantomime-like short, musical plays that always manage to\ncome to a close just as the chimes are about to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nhotel\u00b4s Bel\u00e9n perfectly illustrates not only the harsh geology but also the\ngentle geography it has created. Complete with its volcanoes and ancient wells,\nand caves and churches and humbler houses and majestic mansions all represented\nin miniature the bel\u00e9n in situated on the apron of pathway that approach the\nhotel. Hundreds of people take several minutes to walk around the display and\nmarvel at its precision until,\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
looking down on the giant Christmas tree
at Princess Yaiza Hotel, Playa Blanca<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

the\nfront doors of the hotel are thrown open not only to their guests but also to\nfamilies living here on the island and to tourists and visitors from\nneighbouring towns. The beautiful, enormous staircases that seem to wind around\nthe giant and colourful tree erected in the foyer become a vantage point for\nhundreds of people. Nevertheless, there are crowds thronged around the base of\nthe tree and spilling out into the grounds of the Princess Yaiza. Music is\nplayed as a glass of wine, champagne or orange juice is offered to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrations\nwere interrupted, this year, though, when news came out that the local sweet\nfactory was in danger and the clocks had all stopped and whatever will happen\nto Christmas? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately,\na beautiful princess, (Yaiza), arrived from nowhere to save the day, helped by\nthe children and gingerbread men of the factory  (I bet they were really small human beings\ndressed in a zip up outfit. You can\u00b4t fool me !). As she then waved goodbye to the\ngrateful townsfolk she bumped into a handsome young man who became her prince\nand promised to look after the factory forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nwas well again in sweety-land and we were relieved on our drive home to see the\nlights had also been restored to the roads of Playa Blanca, with our wonderful\nwindmill lit in blue, and bright-light gifts, left unopened, wrapped on the\nlower roundabout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nmeant that the next Christmas event, albeit scheduled for Friday 13th<\/sup>,\nan ominously portentous date in some cultures, should proceed without mishap,\nand indeed it proved to be so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas the evening before the official opening of the Belen in Yaiza, and was a\ngathering of Ranchos De Pasquas. Even clever-clogs Google will not offer me a\ntranslation of this phrase but, because of the context in which we have heard\nsuch groups perform previously, we suspect that Rancho De Pasquas is a\ncollective term for those musical and vocal groups dedicated to religious or\nceremonial performances. If there is anyone reading this who can shed light on this\nmatter, please feel free to e-mail me at normanwarwick22@yahoo.com<\/a> and we\u00b4ll print\nyour explanation and officially declare you \u00b4slicker than a search engine !\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nwelcoming of three pieces by each of three ensembles was delivered by the\n\u00b4parish priest\u00b4 who conducts the mass my wife Dee attends each Sunday morning\nin Playa Blanca. He is a lively, smiley character with an all-inclusive\nattitude and so the event took on the air of a concert, even in such a splendid\nand spiritual setting as this magnificent and enormous church in Yaiza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
playing bones and castanets<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The\npews were full, and all eyes were focussed on the priest as he announced the\nfirst choir of the evening, and guitars and timples began to play as the\noutfit, like strolling players, came down the aisle in darkness, from the huge\nwooden front doors, and then took their positions around the alter, to offer\ntheir performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nwas a representation from Tinajo who gave us a beautifully sung and energetic\nact. With twenty musicians playing stringed instruments, tambourines,\ncastanets, a bones-washboard hung around a neck and even sword blades serving\nas strange versions of a musical saw, this was an enormous sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfollowing group had travelled from Haria in the north country and were similar\nin size and formation to the party from Tinajo and were also much the same in\ninstrumentation. They created a slightly softer sound, however, more focussed\non the vocal output, though the songs (in Spanish and sadly incomprehensible to\nus), had a similar flavour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npriest had by now yielded to a professional compere, but his introductions too,\nwere entirely in Spanish. That was, of course, perfectly acceptable as this\nseemed to be an event of religion and culture for the benefit of the native\nislanders, though as always at such events we and our friends, Iain and\nMargaret, felt perfectly comfortable in joining their company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ntried to make further sense of each Ranchos De Pasqua, and precisely what they\nrepresented, by analysing their \u00b4uniforms\u00b4 but could make no more educated\nguesses than that a couple of ensembles looked to be quite formally attired\nwhilst the final one, that from Yaiza itself, seemed to be quite casually\nclothed, although in a uniformed manner. Iain had even noticed that, in all\nthree groups, only one among the virtually equal numbers of a total of thirty\nmen and thirty women, seemed to be wearing a wedding ring. Was there some\nsignificance in that we wondered? Who knows, and more importantly who will tell\nme?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nsay their performance, too, was casually delivered, is intended as a compliment.\nWith two young ladies playing triangle, and one playing a bird-whistle effect,\ntheir sound was quite distinctive, and the woman playing a natty and\ncomplex-looking mandolin type instrument smiled and made eye contact throughout\nthe set with the front row of the audience, like a Bonnie Rait style rock star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsolo singing was delivered by a young guy who dreamily leaned back against a\npillar for most of the performance, even whilst delivering some incredibly\nchallenging pieces. On one occasion, when an impossible note proved to be just\nthat he laughed out loud at himself, as if for having had the temerity to even\nattempt to reach it. Such a laid-back attitude added to, rather than detracted\nfrom, the performance that brought this evening to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well,\nalmost to a close. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nwas yet to be the handshakes all round and the exchanging of commemorative\npendants between the groups. Yaiza presented to their guest musicians a replica\nof a typical Yaiza chimney (honestly) with their high-domed peaks and home-town\ngreen paintwork. That did indeed bring the night to a suitably spiritual\nclosure for me, as the Yaiza football club, for which I am a season ticket\nholder, play in green and I was reminded that I would be watching them the\nfollowing day, saying my prayers and singing their hymns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside,\nin Plaza del Remedios, the bands were now strolling around and catching up with\nfans and family and fellow players from other ensembles. We had a quick word\nwith the young male vocalist from the Yaiza group, who told us the songs\ntonight by all the groups had been, not carols exactly, but pieces that had\ntold the nativity story in chronological order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nonly four years here, we are still relative newcomers to this island but we had\nspent another evening in the company of smiling indigenous inhabitants who had\ntried to answer our ridiculous questions and pointed out to us things we might\notherwise not have been aware of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nstayed in the square and enjoyed a beer or wine, depending on preference, at\nthe only side stall that had been opened tonight. A couple of hours later, at\naround 11.15 pm., during a lull in our conversation, we looked around and\nrealised were the last people left in the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart\nfrom the poor girl at the bar, that is, who was just waiting for us to drink up\nso she could go home. We did and she did, but we would all be back the\nfollowing evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe time we arrived back at the same place on Saturday 14th<\/sup>\nDecember, after a regatta that began and took place in the bay of Playa Blanca\nand then being further delayed by several minutes added on to Yaiza\u00b4s dramatic\nhome win, (because of three sendings off, several bookings and one glorious\nwinning goal) the casa De Culture in Yaiza was already full overflowing. It\nseemed as if the whole town had crammed into the rooms to listen to what\nsounded to me, as to scores of others gathered outside the doors, like a\nbeautiful musical mix of carols and contemporary pop folk songs by a melodious\nand entertaining musical set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nthe indoor concert (free until full) came to a close, so the musicians of the\nRancho de Pasqua Yaiza  wandered outside leading\nthrough throngs of people to the still-in-darkness Bel\u00e9n. A microphone was set\nup, spotlights came on and The Mayor of Yaiza Oscar Noda, stood in front of the\nBel\u00e9n and welcomed us all to the official opening ceremony. He kept his speech\nbrief but mentioned all the salient people such as the musical ensemble and the\nartist\/designer of the Bel\u00e9n itself, Alexa Dorta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nthe same priest as we had seen the previous night had wandered around this\noutdoor congregation gleefully throwing holy water all over them, sorry, I mean\nblessing them, the ribbon was metaphorically cut and we were all invited to\nwalk around a Bel\u00e9n that seemed to cover a larger surface area than in previous\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all across the\narts<\/em>\nspoke briefly with Alexa and his family after the opening and he referred to\nhimself as an artist and designer but gave great credit to other artists who\nhave in the past created the stock of model houses etc. that populate each\ntown\u00b4s individual Bel\u00e9n, which effectively transport a manger-story on to an\nartist\u00b4s representation of his own perception of the Lanzarote landscape. Alexa,\nwho has previously designed Bel\u00e9ns for the Teguise township, told us he had\nparticularly focussed this year on the mountainous aspects of Lanzarote. That\nwas apparent by the huge, open-cratered red sloped \u00b4mountains\u00b4 in the\ndepiction, and I look forward to talking again with the artist, in an interview\nwe proposed for early in 2020. about the significance of the mountains and\ntheir power and portentousness on this model, \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queues\nof people snaked around the Bel\u00e9n, in a way that now feels traditional on the\nisland. Whole families of three or four generations wandered together oohing\nand ahhing at the artist\u00b4s vision and attention to detail, that even included\ntiny plants sown into the top surface to faithfully reflect the agriculture of\nthe island and its vineyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ntook dozens of photographs and then had a coffee and snack in one of the\nseveral bars erected around the site. It was late when we left, and I had\nprobably missed Match Of The Day, but that was a small price to pay for being\npart of something that feels so strangely important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nwe wandered away to our parked cars, we seemed to be the only people still on\nthe streets, and the area that had been so busy earlier on seemed now deserted.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\na closer look back revealed three early-teenage children wandering round the Bel\u00e9n,\npointing out to each other things of interest on the model, and generally\ncooing and billing at its prettiness and perfection. We were fairly sure they had\nlikely declined mum and dad\u00b4s invitation to join them on their earlier tour,\ndisdaining Bel\u00e9ns as being for the oldies. And yet, here they were, taking\nsecret delight in the artist\u00b4s vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nwere more events in this beautiful town in the South of the island on the\nfollowing day, but previous commitments meant we had to forego the opportunity\nto tour the small market, hear the Cora De Yaiza sing in the church and miss\nthe free open-air concerts that took place in the town square throughout the\nafternoon and evening.,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nweek that saw the driver of a company-owned gardening lorry inadvertently shed\nits load onto our parked-next-to-it Nissan Micra, and my wallet full of my bank\ncards being left in a printing shop (who had kindly accepted it being handed in\nand placed it in their safe) was heading from bad to worse. So it proved when,\nunfortunately, we had to miss the performance we had designated as a must-see\nby the Voices choir. Fortunately our next door neighbour \/ roving reporter\nattended in our stead, and returned generally glowing about what are always\nheart-warming performances. This one, in the Nuestra Del Carmen church in Playa\nBlanca on Wednesday 18th<\/sup> December was no exception, and Sandra was\nparticularly struck by the singing of the words of While Shepherds Watched\nTheir Socks By Night to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Bar Tat !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nnext Christmas event had never appeared on our radar until, during a weekend\nstay in Arrecife to look at the lights, (I know, we\u00b4re easily pleased) we saw a\ngood number of people stepping into the Casa de la Culture de la Augustin Hoz.\nLike all intrepid reporters do, we followed them in and stayed to watch what\nturned out to a lovely choir concert. Being honest as Alborada Ladies Choir\nfiled on to the performance area, I didn\u00b4t expect too much, as these ladies, each\nwearing a flora de pasqua on a black suit, all seemed to be of a certain age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Albarada Ladies Choir<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

They\nlooked just slightly unorganised but what a revelation followed. Singing\nChristmas songs to the accompaniment of two gently strummed guitars, fourteen\nvocalists followed the signalling of their female musical director to deliver a\nglorious concert. It was, perhaps, the most senior lady in age, yet surprisingly\nstrong of voice, who took most of the lead vocals and the ensemble vocals, too,\nwere so highly impressive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strangely,\nthough, even in these religious, Christmas tunes, though I could hear echoes of\nthose plaintive cowboy camp fire sounds I grew up on when following my love of\nTexan and Mexican music. The chord structures that are the foundation of this Spanish\nsound had already been carried over into Americana music long before I started\nlistening to it, and hearing it again now in music that is still new to me\nleaves me dancing to the time warp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nchoir looked thrilled at the response they had drawn from the audience and\nthere were congratulations all round after the show. Of all the wonderful\nthings we see as we wander all across the arts it is invariably these simple,\nunexpected pleasures that linger longest in the memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nas Mike Nesmith of The Monkees once said, \u00b4the hits just keep on coming,\u00b4 and\nthe next one was heard a couple of nights later in Arrecife. Again, we\ntravelled in with Margaret and Iain who take great delight in discovering arts\nand cultural events that have somehow evaded even the extensive range of our\nall across the arts radar. However, the as-advertised concert, by the Rancho de\nPacua Tinajo, scheduled for six thirty in the church turned out to be them\nperforming in a seven thirty mass, a fact we only learned when we bumped into\nsome of the choir. Iain saw three or four guys walking round Charcos de San\nGines with instrument cases in hand, and ever the Columbo, he detected they\nmust be musicians. A firm handshake and a quick sentence or two in Spanglish\nand we had discovered the time and venue of,  but not the nature of,  the concert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,\nan hour or so later we returned to the church expecting a small choir of five\nor six players with musical accompaniment, and given the mis-advertising, a\nvery small audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nmanaged to get on to a pew near the front, only to realise we were now a part\nof what seemed a congregation of more than a hundred for a pretty formal and\nsacred church service. Imagine our nerves turning to terror when the priest asked\nus all to listen to the sounds from outside the church. We could faintly hear\nsinging, in a low rise and swell, obviously coming towards the church. What a\nsonic blast there was as the by now thirty strong Rancho de Pascua Tinajo\nwalked down the aisles, with timples, flutes, and guitars, castanets and\nmarracas and wonderful, soaring harmonies. This incredible church was given a\nfantastic and uplifting performance by a choir that included the guys we had\nseen on our earlier \u00b4reccy\u00b4.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndon\u00b4t share my wife\u00b4s faith, though I acknowledge the reassurance it provides\nher, and as Marc Cohn replied when he was Walking In Memphis and was asked,\n\u00b4Son, are you a Christian?\u00b4 I, too, would have answered, \u00b4Ma\u00b4am I am tonight !\u00b4\n(had anybody doubted my credentials).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nwas still another concert to be heard, tonight, though and we had only a few\nminutes to dash across town to the Sociadad Democratica, where Iain, who had been\nbehaving for days like a man who had lost thirty quid, suddenly took on the air\nof a man who had found the Three Tenors he had been looking for all week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSociadads over here seem to be the slightly more up market version of the\nworking man\u00b4s clubs of Northern England, with their sense of community and a\nlove of decisively delivered entertainment. These Three Tenors certainly gave\nus that, and their O Sole Mio raised the ceiling of the incredibly spacious and\nluxurious theatre up the stairs from the club\u00b4s excellent dining room and art gallery.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\nagain, this free concert, was a sell out and the quality of delivery was superb,\nnotwithstanding my despair that taped backing music and film excerpts on a\nstage-screen lent it all an air of the karaoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Three Tenors In Arrecife<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although\nthe inclusion of Can\u00b4t Help Falling In Love With You was a decidedly Elvis\ninterpretation and that the infuriatingly catchy Delilah song had the audience\nswaying and singing, (without ever telling us why, why, why) and even though My\nWay will never, ever, be my way, I have to say the voices and harmonies of\nthese three vocalists were absolutely superb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndon\u00b4t therefore mean to sound grudging in my praise of the act, as even the\nfilm excerpts shed some light on songs and names we in the audience might have\nbeen less than familiar with, and the recorded music lent support to the\npowerful voices of The Three Tenors, but they must avoid the danger of allowing\ntheir wonderful voices to be misunderstood as a stadium sing-along. They are\nfar too good for that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the well known song, there are twelve days of Christmas. My Windows 10 is\ntelling me that on my screen this is my tenth page, and strangely, there are\nstill two more Christmas events to tell you about. The eleventh happening drew\nus back to Yaiza, scene of the official opening of the Bel\u00e9n, where it all\nbegan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
a member of
Yaiza Town Band<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This\nperformance was in the Casa De La Cultura, Benito Perez Armas, with its\nintriguing rooms and quant courtyard offering us another free until full\nconcert. We had learned our lessons well about double checking scheduled start\ntimes and then arriving considerably prior to the earliest time we have been\ntold. Nevertheless the concert room was full of around a hundred and fifty\npeople and looked even more crowded as the thirty musicians and thirty instruments\nof Yaiza Municipal Band filled the stage. With four stand-up vocal microphones\nset at floor level in front of the stage, it was obvious that it would not be\nonly the band we would hear tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They separated this performance with a guest appearance by Yaiza\u00b4s Vocal Group, more usually known as Cora de Yaiza, a choir in which four of my wife\u00b4s Spanish friends from her yoga group are members. We have been watching this choir ever since we arrived on the island four and a bit years ago, and they improve each time we see them, and tonight were all dressed to the nines in a new \u00b4uniform\u00b4 and they all looked sharp, and confident and delighted to be taking part in this event. Nevertheless, I admit to fearing that performing with cornets, clarinets and big trombones, as well as kettle drums, flutes and oboes and cymbals, might leave them somewhat drowned out. I need have had no such fears as, under the direction of the band\u00b4s musical conductor, they delivered two beautiful and quite intricate pieces. Their own musical leader, Nuvi, joined them on this occasion as a singer and together they gave us a multi-layered version of O Come All Ye Faithful, and an image of our friend Jacqueline, front row, centre tapping her feet, snapping her fingers and smiling like a young Rosemary Clooney is not one we will ever forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They then delivered what for was, for me, a cherished Christmas present. I pretty much love all versions of the song, but the David Bowie and Bing Crosby collaborative recording of Little Drummer Boy is probably my favourite. Running it close, though, is now the version we heard here tonight. With a full brass and woodwind band playing sensitively behind them, the dozen or so ladies and three men, of the Cora de Yaiza sang a soft, almost mystical version. I love the Bowie Crosby recording because there is something ethereal in that harmony that we never expected to work, and here too, the choir gave the song a wonderfully, dreamy feeling to its gentle march.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cora De Yaiza<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As\nfor the band, they had opened with a lively and pretty Queen\u00b4s Park\nMelody,  and had followed that with the\nfilm score of Apollo 13 and then given us All For Love, associated with the\nrock star Bryan Adams. Such louder, more up tempo performances had served them\nbest in that section, so it had been a pleasant surprise to hear how excellent\nthey sounded, even in restraint, when supporting the choir. The Yaiza Municipal\nBand then performed a rousing Free World Fantasy, a closing number which saw\nthis band of males and females, senior and junior, brought back for a deserved\nencore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because\nof geography, time zones, and a slightly different religious calendar over here\non Lanzarote, we celebrated a fabulous New Year\u00b4s Eve, as the Spanish locals\nenjoyed music and a spectacular line of wonderful firework displays all along\nour  South East coastline from Arrecife\ndown to Playa Blanca. We were back to our own beach by midnight, after a wonderful\nmeal of beef and trimmings at The MargheRita Restaurant in Puerto Calero, a\nself-described pizza bar but certainly not one as we remember them from the UK.\nThe food was wide ranging, beautifully cooked and carefully presented and we\nquickly understood why the atmosphere here was buzzingly brilliant !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsure\nwhether rockets would be fired over the lines of millionaires\u00b4 yachts moored in\nthe harbour we headed back in time for the Playa Blanca celebrations, where\nhundreds of people were lining the beach and sea front walk for a close up view\nof the overhead flares and explosions and for a distant view of similar\nactivities some miles away on the island of Fuerteventura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then,\non the 2nd<\/sup> January 2020, we stepped back out of the new decade to\njoin with the final carol service, surely, of the festive season.  This was delivered by the Voices choir, and\nwas the final performance of their six episode Christmas season. As ever, they\nhad been doing great work all through the holiday period, singing to raise\nmoney for the Calor y Caf\u00e9, a Lanzarote charity supporting the homeless and\nothers in great need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Voices<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We\nhad first seen this choir, who perform mostly in English, a few Christmas times\nago, appropriately in the village of Nazaret but they have changed almost\nbeyond recognition in that period, both in terms of personnel and the\nchallenges they set themselves in performance. When we, and just about all the\nrest of the fifty or so in the audneice, joined them for drinks after the\nrecital, Voices seemed justifiably chuffed with how things had gone tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nVillancicos en navidad performance was in the beautiful church in Yaiza and\nthey opened with a lovely Once In Royal David\u00b4s City, and were accompanied with\ngreat empathy my Michael Emerson on keyboards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nperformance included an excellent solo offering from Sue Cox of  O Holy Night, and then an ensemble delivery\nof In The Bleak Midwinter was perfectly chilled. There was, too, a delightful\ndelivery of the quite complex of Lo How A Rose E\u00b4er Blooming by the quartet of\nDena Emerson, Danielle Baumgartner, Alan Taylor and Tim Monroe. The Twelve Days\nOf Christmas were then emphatically counted off the calendar in a display of\nsome wonderful harmony, before slipping off into a Silent Night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David\nCooper seems to be the Bing Crosby of Voices, and he went for the casual\nleaning on the staircase pose as he had us breathing that heady aroma of\nchestnuts roasting on an open fire. Adeste Fideles was a strong but no less tuneful\ndelivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nclosing carol was supposed to be cantado por el coro, according to the dictate\nof the programme, but there was a quiet revolution in the congregation as we\nall hummed and la la lahed or even sung the lyrics along with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voices then brought the concert to a close with a fitting, if belated, wish for us to have a merry Christmas !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nwe could all rush for the church door to make our way to the drinks and sweet\nfood available in the nearby village hall, the priest,   small in stature but large in personality,\nran out into the congregation rattling his tambourine, calling for alms on\nbehalf of Calor y Caf\u00e9. He seems to be a ubiquitous and much loved figure in\nhis parish, and an hour or so later, as we sat having a swift beer in the town\nwith our friends Iain and Margaret, there he was again, like a good shepherd\ntaking care of his flock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfollowing day Three Wise Men and Three Kings were seen riding across the island\non camels, and we found them In Tias. They were accompanied by vast crowds of\npeople, and children dressed as Woody from Toy Story or as a Transformer or as\na floppy giant, all of cheerfully waving goodbye to Christmas and calling in a\nNew Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORE THAN TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS It all started for us on Friday December 6th with an event that is all-inclusive and is always elegant, cheerful and bright. The Princessa Yaiza Hotel has been inaugurating a Christmas lights display for several years and by now they have them running like clockwork, even if it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,45,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aata","category-music","category-performing-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}