January 4 - The Herald

I arrived to class right on time this morning,  I can't say as much for the rest of my class....

Although we did start a little late, it was a good class.  I am feeling like I am back into the swing of things.  Of course now there is a three day weekend - so I will have to try to keep sharp until Tuesday.   Some new students are arriving and some old students come back on Tuesday - and all of the teachers will be back.  So with all of the mixing, I am going to try out a new class on Tuesday.  It is a little more advanced than my current class - so, I may only go for one day and then move right back, but I am looking forward to trying it out.  As it turns out, the new class is in the afternoon - so if I decide to stay with it, we will be back to our original schedule of morning shopping/cooking and afternoon classes. 

On my way home, I saw lots of "tape" as the city prepares for the small procession today and the big parade tomorrow.

Today's procession route went all the way through the city, but the procession itself was small - a couple of small bands, lots of Bedouins (people dressed to represent the Nomadic arabs that are thought to have helped the wise men), and the Herald who supposedly announces the arrival of the three kings - and "picks up the keys to the city" for the kings' big arrival tomorrow (the big parade).

The Royal Herald

Although most of the children were excited about the music and horses and costumes and handfuls of candy being flung into the crowd, much like in the US with Santa Claus - a few were actually a little freaked out - like this little girl in front of us.

One of the fun things about this whole event was the letters to the three kings.  It is customary for every child to write a letter to the three kings (like a letter to Santa in the US).  But, instead of dropping the letter in a mailbox, they bring them to this Herald procession....kids up and down the route waited with letters in hand.

The Bedouins (as the kings' helpers) collected the letters from the children (and some adults) along the parade route.

Then they passed them back through the group as the children tried to keep track of their letters until they came to the large decorated wagon where all of the letters ended up.

The crowd was large but well behaved.  There were lots of police at the front and back of the parade and all along the route for crowd control.  I am curious to see tomorrow's parade... it lasts from 4:15 until 10pm with a huge circuit starting and ending at the University of Sevilla... it is due to come through our neighborhood in the evening around 7 pm (it will only take about 30 minutes to see the whole thing - the route is just really long).  Some websites claim that 90 tons of sweets will be thrown into the crowds over the nearly 6 hour parade - our landlords warned us that the streets will be so sticky that your shoes will be covered.... Hopefully these are exaggerations,  but I guess we will find out tomorrow night!