Day 3 – 11th August Saturday
After not too late a night playing cards, we woke up early to get ready for the funeral. We had to be at the church at 1130am, and a lot of the family stopped by the house on their way there. The church is a 3minute walk from the house, so we all wandered down together and gathered outside the tiny stone church on the hill. All the family started arriving and Toni and his brothers and father and I entered the church to sit and wait. The church kept filling up until there were no more seats and people were standing at the back, in the end the place was packed to say goodbye to Toni’s mum. It was a long service but beautiful, with two little old priests dressed in proper catholic robes. They recited verses from the bible, and we stood then sat then stood as directed. Many people were singing with the priests and it was a very moving event. After the church service, we all walked around the back of the church to the little graveyard on the hill. The small plot was surrounded by a stone wall with a metal gate on one side it was maybe only 20x20 metres. All the people crowded in there, in the hot midday sun, the women fanning themselves and the old men trying to stand in the shade of the wall. The priest came and said a prayer over the plot of Toni’s mum and the ashes were buried and a lady put some flowers. After this, many people came back to the house for a big BBQ lunch, we arranged two or three tables together so we could sit 25 people, including the little priest who is a cousin of Toni’s father. We had lamb cooked on the fire, with only oil and salt, and lots of special sausage called Morcilla made from pigs blood, with onion and rice.. How delicious.. lots of good food and a few glasses of wine. It’s typical for lunch to be followed by fruit, and somebody had brought a huge watermelon, no doubt from somebodys garden, which we served up and shared with everyone. The lunch continued late into the evening, followed by small siesta.
After not too late a night playing cards, we woke up early to get ready for the funeral. We had to be at the church at 1130am, and a lot of the family stopped by the house on their way there. The church is a 3minute walk from the house, so we all wandered down together and gathered outside the tiny stone church on the hill. All the family started arriving and Toni and his brothers and father and I entered the church to sit and wait. The church kept filling up until there were no more seats and people were standing at the back, in the end the place was packed to say goodbye to Toni’s mum. It was a long service but beautiful, with two little old priests dressed in proper catholic robes. They recited verses from the bible, and we stood then sat then stood as directed. Many people were singing with the priests and it was a very moving event. After the church service, we all walked around the back of the church to the little graveyard on the hill. The small plot was surrounded by a stone wall with a metal gate on one side it was maybe only 20x20 metres. All the people crowded in there, in the hot midday sun, the women fanning themselves and the old men trying to stand in the shade of the wall. The priest came and said a prayer over the plot of Toni’s mum and the ashes were buried and a lady put some flowers. After this, many people came back to the house for a big BBQ lunch, we arranged two or three tables together so we could sit 25 people, including the little priest who is a cousin of Toni’s father. We had lamb cooked on the fire, with only oil and salt, and lots of special sausage called Morcilla made from pigs blood, with onion and rice.. How delicious.. lots of good food and a few glasses of wine. It’s typical for lunch to be followed by fruit, and somebody had brought a huge watermelon, no doubt from somebodys garden, which we served up and shared with everyone. The lunch continued late into the evening, followed by small siesta.
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