Chapter Nine: Traditions and Passions

Traditions are laid down deep. They sink in and wrap around us to become a part of who we are. In the end, when these traditions are celebrated and remembered, they create passionate people. And if Spain is notorious for anything, it is for its traditions. And even more so, for its passionate people.

Now an entire book could be dedicated to explain the different traditions in this country. Do I want to bore you with a 300 page entry about this? Not really. I'll let you do the reading on your own. However, one important aspect that should and needs to be told is that Spain is a very Catholic country. Its historical roots are Catholic and thus, many traditions have sprung up from Catholic beliefs. For example: saints. Believe it or not, but every town and city has a patron saint and every town and city celebrate their saints. When these days occur, the town is decorated. Traditions are celebrated. And the people are passionate about their heritage.

Therefore, living on the sea, it only makes sense to dedicate this town to a saint of sailors or to San Andrés also known as Saint Andrew in English. So as you can imagine, many of the activities involved the water. Biggest of all, there were rowing competitions in the port. Boys and men alike raced against each other. Back and forth as they raced, I could not get over the intensity that the young boys had. Not young boys, excuse me. But young men. Maybe on the streets I would look down on them as boys but during that competition their passion transformed them into young men. Focused on nothing else, they pushed themselves back and forth along the port.

But like all cultures, tradition starts young. I can still remember going to cut down Christmas trees and lugging them back to the car. I can remember trying to find my Easter basket and secretly stealing a few pieces of candy as my breakfast. I can remember the smell of hotdogs and burgers on the grill for the 4th of July. Traditions like these were passed down to me. And like these young boys (I mean, "men"), their traditions are being passed down to them as well. With or without their knowing, their traditions are transforming them into the passionate individuals that they will soon become.

As the foreigner in this sort of situation, these traditions are clearly visible. But the passion needs further reflection and practice to notice. Since tradition is something to be seen, passion is something to be felt. In which case this takes time and patience and openness to compare your own traditions to that of others in order to fully convey what passion is in both cultures.