A plane flew low over our place in Madrid this morning. It was so loud my instinct was to hide rather than check it out. That should have been the first clue. While we were having coffee a fleet of planes flew over in formation. And then a string of clunky helicopters. We remembered that tomorrow was Día de la Hispanidad, we had it marked on our calendar, and we assumed they were warming up.
We planned to just wander today and thought we’d pop in and out of the galleries in the Doctor Fourquet area so we headed down through La Latina and stopped for another café con leche. The streets were packed with people. The first gallery and then the second were closed and only then did we put it together. Today is Día de la Hispanidad and the feast day of the Virgen del Pilar!
The parade along Paseo del Prada had finished and families with children carrying Spanish flags were settling in the restaurants. The Royal family was presiding over an official event in Palacio Royal, just a few blocks from our AirBnB so we walked back over there, stopping for tapas along the way. Crowds were gathered out front to catch a glimpse.
In the US we have mostly stripped Columbus of his renown. Spain celebrates much more on the 12th. The Spanish Empire was the first global power in world history and what is now the US was just a small part. They say the holiday is a celebration of Hispanic heritage but it comes off like a patriotic show of military might.
The Holy Day though is something else. This is the anniversary of the day the Virgin Mary’s apparition “in flesh and blood” in Zaragoza to Santiago, the apostle Saint James in AD 40.
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