Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part III of III Lorca's (Murcia) Jewish Village & Synagogue in a Castle and the Most Incredible Holy Week Processions Ever

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Gerry Dawes with Jewish figure sounding the shofar at Archaeological Museum of Lorca, Lorca (Murcia).

Lorca (Murcia)

When I picked up my partner, Kay, at Alicante airport, she was running late from a delayed flight from New York that caused her to miss her connection in Madrid, and we headed for Cartagena on Saturday, April 13, the day before Palm Sunday, I had no idea what we were going to find a few days down the road.

When we arrived at Hotel Los Habaneros in Cartagena, one of the few major towns in Spain to which I had never been, she showed me an article from the in-flight magazine she picked up on Air Nostrum, the regional airline that flies from Madrid to such places as Alicante and Valencia.  It was a article about Holy Week in an outback town called Lorca, a place I may have only passed through once, if that, years ago and a town that was not on my radar and not on our agenda for the trip we had planned for Semana Santa, Holy Week.  

We were going to get acquainted with historic Roman Cartagena, a town with one of the most beautifully protected harbors in the Mediterranean, then we were going to Almeria, where for years I had been promising her lunch on the beach at Cabo de Gata.  Then we were going to the villages of the Alpurjarras, south from Granada, where my one-time Spain literary hero, Gerald Brenan wrote South From Granada.   In the 1970s, I would subsequently come to know Brenan, visit him at his home near Alhaurín el Grande (with letters of introduction from both the great doyenne of bullfight aficionadas Alice Hall and theater legend Kenneth Tynan), have dinner with at the home of my mentors Bill Byron (author of Cervantes) and have him to our home in Mijas for dinner.  Brenan wrote South From Granada about his life in the 1920s in the isolated Sierra Nevada mountain village of Yegen.  His book and others, The Face of Spain and Literature of the Spanish People became classic and were a great inspiration to me, but other than a couple of minor forays, I had done no in-depth exploring of the villages he wrote about so many years ago.
First off, not only would Lorca not be on my radar, I had no plans to go there, but with bad weather forecast and the prospect of making a trip to Granada later this Fall, which would allow us to visit the Alpujarras, coupled with the sight in that airline magazine of Roman chariots racing down the streets of Lorca during Holy Week, brought about a change in plans, so when Kay did some research on hotels in Lorca, found only the Parador available, we decided to change our plans and go to Lorca for Holy Thursday.  It was a remarkable twist of events that lead us to the most incredible Semana Santa spectacle I have ever seen and ironically it would also lead me to a Jewish village that I had no idea existed,  inside a castle and on grounds of the Parador de Lorca, no less.

The discovery of Lorca’s Jewish village began in 2002, ironically when excavations began to build the new Parador de Turismo on whose grounds the village, synagogue and museum are located.  Jews lived for two centuries with the protection of the Kings of Castile and within the protective confines of the castle above Lorca, which was a Castilian frontier bastion against the Moorish taifas and the Moorish bastion of Granada.  The Jews were fluent in Arabic and helped negociate Christian and Moorish prisoner releases and ransom payments.  They also engaged in agriculture and the raising of livestock and were merchants and craftsmen.   

This Jewish village was on the Eastern side of the fortress on a terraced hillside.  To date, 18 houses have been excavated with their walls, alcoves, benches, kitchens and cupboards.  Many artifacts have also been recovered, including pottery, mezuzahs, menorahs (including some that were eight small pottery oil lamps, with a ninth, large one at the end) and more than 2,000 pieces of glass from the the candlelight glass lamps that were suspended from the ceiling and illuminated the synagogue were discovered.  One house was even found to have a domestic bathroom.

The synagogue in this Jewish village at Lorca’s Fortaleza del Sol  is particularly important, partly because it is the only known synagogue recovered in Spain that had never been converted into a Christian church.  Part of the original walls with the layout of the building, including the entranceway for men and their prayer benches, have been preserved in their original state.  Also uncovered were pieces of plasterwork with intricate designs and colored ceramics tiles.  The area above the main hall where women worshiped has been reconstructed with a wooden screen that allowed them to see, but kept them unseen by the men in the congregation (since this area is small, there is some doubt as to whether women worshipped at this synagogue at the same time as men).  The excavators also uncovered the aron kodesh (“holy ark”), the Sephardim called the ark,  the holiest place in the synagogue--where the Torah Scrolls are kept--the heichal (“chamber”).  They also uncovered the foundations of a raised stone podium the bema, or bima,  in ancient Greece.  This podium, using for reading the Torah during the services, is known a bimah in synagogues.

Some of the glass lamps that archaeologists found are apparently unique in the world, since they are the only such lamps that were used to illuminate a Medieval synagogue.  More than 20 of these lamps have been reconstructed with some of the fragments of the original glass and are now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Lorca.  

 Kay Balun at the Museo Arquelogico de Lorca with some of the re-constructed glass latterns found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Re-constructed glass lattern found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Re-constructed glass lattern found in the synagogue at the unearthed Jewish village at the Forteleza del Sol castle on the grounds of the Parador de Turismo de Lorca.

Also found were the fragments of pottery that were part of the horizontal Hannukah lamp menorahs, which were eight smaller oil lamps and one larger shammash lamp used to light the others at the end .  The lamps  were a part of their pottery platform and all glazed in green (a similar style of menorah, done in white ceramics with hand-painted designs was found in a Jewish excavation in the provincial capital of Teruel, some 430 kms. to the north in Aragón.)  Both the Lorca and Teruel menorahs had to be almost completely re-built, since only fragments were found.  In December of 2012, the first lighting of the candles of Hanukah in more 500 years took place in the ancient synagogue of Lorca.  Now, the Hanukah candle lighting ceremony is an annual event at the synagogue. 

 Lorca menorah (Samuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments).

Depiction of lighting of the Lorcan style ceramics Menorah at the Museo Arquelogico de Lorca.  Now, the Hanukah candle lighting ceremony is an annual event at the synagogue in Lorca.

We were again reminded of the Jewish heritage of Lorca during the incredible Semana Santa processions, when we saw the character representing King Solomon draped with one of the superbly embroidered, ornate robes that Lorca’s processions are famous for adorned with a large star of David.  And there is also an appearance by the Queen of Sheba and her retinue. And, as a part of another procession, several men carry a golden ark of the covenant (calling Indiana Jones!).  Lorca’s  Holy Week celebrations are mind-blowing.  The out Hollywood Hollywood and, with the racing Roman chariots with their haughty drivers, including several striking young women, sometimes we thought we were in the middle of a re-enactment of Ben-Hur, Spartacus or King Solomon’s mines.

King Solomon's Cape (from 1934), worn during the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon  Holy Week processions, Museo de Bordados Paso Blanco, Lorca (Murcia).

Part of the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon Procession, Holy Week, Lorca (Murcia).

This photo courtesy Protocol Bloggers Point.

Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon Procession, Holy Week, Lorca (Murcia).  Photo by Gerry Dawes.

 Festival of Contemporary Jewish Culture takes place in Lorca in September.

More on Sephardic Spain:

4/06/2019 Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part II of III The Call, Barcelona's Former Jewish Quarter with Barcelona Expert George Semler

4/01/2019 Sephardic Spain: Update on My Search for Jewish Historical Sites in Spain Part I of III Return to Ribadavia (Galicia) & La Tafona de Herminia's Sephardic Recipe Pastries 

3/10/2019 Jewish Spain: Ribadavia (Ourense), Galicia, Restored Jewish Quarter (Active from the XII-XVI Centuries) with La Tafona de Herminia, A Bakery with Pastries from Recovered Sephardic Recipes Plus Galician Octopus Cookers

  

2/05/2019 Jewish Spain: Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves, Popularly Known as Santa María la Blanca, at the Edge of The Barrio de Santa Cruz, The Ancient Jewish Quarter of Sevilla 

  

2/04/2019 Susona: The Legend of the Beautiful Jewish Girl in Sevilla Whose Betrayal Led to Implementation of The Spanish Inquisition in the 15th Century (My article In Madrid's Guidepost Magazine, May 25, 1974)

  

9/09/2018 Jewish Spain: The Incredible Remnants of Jewish Culture in the Old Jewish Quarters of Spain: Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Ribadavia (Galicia), Tudela (Navarra), Girona (Catalunya), Hervás (Cáceres)

 

5/21/2018 Jewish Spain: Toledo Santa Maria La Blanca 12th-Century Ibn Shushan Synagogue

 

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Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

The Where's Curtas? Chronicles: Traveling in Spain Intimidating Unsuspecting Folks Into Posing with John Curtas's Eating Las Vegas

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All photographs by Gerry Dawes©2019.  For permission to reproduce, e-mail me at gerrydawes@aol.com.

I caught Mari Carmen Onrubia de Esquivias, one of the loveliest women in Sevilla, in her kitchen perusing Eating Las Vegas by John Curtas, Oct. 21, 2019.

 John Curtas's Eating Las Vegas about to be sucked into a jet engine, along with my computer bag, at NYC's JFK Airport, October 5, 2019.

The John Curtas Eating Las Vegas chronicles in Spain, during which I hassled, threatened, cajoled and charmed some of Spain's top chefs, a professional ham cutter, a food writer, Hans Christian Andersen (well, his statue in Málaga*) and other unsuspecting victims to pose with Curtas's book. *Others refused, including Pablo Picasso, whose grown-man statue sits in a plaza in front of his natal home (except Picasso never came here after he was 20.) 

And, because of security, I was never able to approach Antonio Banderas, who does live in Málaga. He seemed friendly enough at first, but when he saw it was Curtas's book, his bodyguards closed ranks. 

First I accosted numerous people at the stellar gastronomic conference San Sebastián Gastronomika 2019.  A few good friends like Barcelona star chef Carles Abellan, star chef María José San Román Pérez, Carrasco Guijuelo President Atanasio Carrasco (#FranciscoCarrasco) and Carrasco Guijuelo Cortador de Jamones Pedro Seco Sanchez indulged me. Others such as anchovy fileter Maria Ucin and fishermen Carlos Castillo and Jon Andonegi (who threatened to strangle me and demonstrated with a fish how he was going to do it) just shook their heads a and moved on, which was fortunate because it saved me having to run around the country with a book with dried fish guts on it.
 

 

Barcelona star chef Carles Abellan

 

  

 Star chef María José San Román Pérez and Carrasco Guijuelo President Atanasio Carrasco. 

 

Carrasco Guijuelo Cortador de Jamones Pedro Seco Sánchez at San Sebastián Gastronomika 2019. 

 Anchovy fileter María Ucín.

 Jon Andonegi, Basque fisherman.

 Fishermen Carlos Castillo: "Come one step closer with that book and I will net you." 

After enduring threats of bodily harm and loss of social standing, I decided to cool it until I got to the magical town of Chinchón (50 kms. southeast of Madrid) and gave retired Madrid Fusión Co'Director Esmeralda Capel enough wine to get her to pose with Curtas´s book.

Our companions on this trip, Michael Whiteman of Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Restaurants Consultants and his wife cookbook author Rozanne Gold, hugging at the famous windmills and castle on the hill above the town of Consuegra, La Mancha, did not hear me because of the wind when I asked them to let Curtas's book come between them.  

In la Mancha at Puerto Lapice, I found Don Quixote at an inn guarding is armor and I asked him to pose with Eating Las Vegas.  He replied, "No f-ing way!"  First off, can't you see I am guarding my armor, and secondly, "What?  You think I am crazy?  I wouldn't be caught dead guarding my armor with that thing in my hands.  What would Cervantes say?"

At Castillo de Canena in Canena (Jaén), where we were invited by the owners of Castillo de Canena Extra Virgen Olive Oils to stay overnight, seeing the animal skins on the floor, I deduced that the owner had guns, so I declined to ask them to pose with Curtas´s book. 

I did ask my long-time dear friend Gabriela Llamas G. Amezúa, a cookbook author and Spanish gastronomy expert, to pose with the book, but she told me that I would have to give her a lot more of Eugenio Merino's Viña Catajarros Cigales Rosado for her to pose with Eating Las Vegas and I only brought four bottles. 

After two nuns in the wonderful Andalucian town of Úbeda told me that they were not in the habit of posing with books from Sin Cities like Las Vegas, I continued research for my upcoming tours of Sephardic Spain, but could not find any ancient Jews willing to pose with the book either, but I did spill some of the molasses on the book from the Sephardic-inspired berenjenas con queso fresco y miel de caña, eggplant layered with fresh cheese and topped with molasses, but I wiped it off. 

 Berenjenas con queso fresco y miel de caña, eggplant layered with fresh cheese and topped with molasses, a Sephardic-inspired recipe, Restaurante el Seco, Úbeda (Jaén), Spain, October 11, 2019.

  

In Granada, Kay Balun and I attended a flamenco performance at Jardines Zoraya (not in the caves of Sacromonte) and, by spending 20 Euros on her Flamenco disc Una Gaditana en Bollywood, I induced Flamenco singer María del Mar Fernández to pose with Eating Las Vegas. (Curtas, you owe me 20 Euros, but I will send you the disc, plus shipping.) 

However, I was unsuccessful in getting Flamenco dancer Agustín Barajas at Jardines Zoraya to pose with the book.  After the performance he slipped into disguise and claimed he was not a Flamenco dancer.   

And I did not even ask the star female flamenco dancer, Raquel Heredia La Repompa, to let me photograph her holding the book, because I don´t like rejection and being laughed at.  

Poet Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca, known as Federico García Lorca, was unavailable since the Fascists assasinated him and dumped him in an unmarked grave outside of Granada during the Civil War, which is what Fascists do to gay people and poets.

In Málaga, on my birthday, October 15, I got Hans Christian Andersen to pose with Eating Las Vegas by John Curtas in la Plaza de la Marina.  At first, Mr. Andersen was cooperative, but soon he said he wouldn´t sit still much longer with Curtas´s book.  

I tried to get other unsuspecting victims to pose with Curtas's book, including Pablo Picasso (I even put my reassuring hand on his knee and Kay whispered sweet somethings in his ear, but he would not hear it).  

 
And I was never able to approach Antonio Banderas, who lives in Málaga and is a partner in the sprawling classic El Pimpi tapas restaurant.  Even though he was busy with the opening of the new Alameda theatre in Málaga´s SoHo art district and when he saw it was Curtas's book, his bodyguards closed ranks.  

Despite her opening strenuous protests and after giving me a WTF-is-this look, Janet Mendel, author of Cooking in Spain and more than half a dozen more books on Spanish cuisine and my friend of nearly 50 years, I convinced her* and she let me photograph her with Eating Las Vegas by John Curtas at my birthday lunch at Balneario Carmen in Málaga, Oct. 15, 2019.   

(*I am one charming sonofabitch and Charm is far preferable to handcuffing the intended victim, since once handcuffed, they can’t hold Curtas’s Eating Las Vegas, except between their teeth, which is awkward, unflatteringly and looks like they are being forced to promote the book under extreme duress.  Note that I have left out photos of those attempts.)

  Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke in the gardens of the Hotel Victoria, Ronda.

Ernest Hemingway, Ronda.

Orson Welles, Ronda.

 

  The late great Ronda Maestro, my old friend Antonio Ordoñez in Ronda.

 

 Antonio's father Cayetano Ordoñez “El Niño de la Palma” (model for the matador Pedro Romero in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

In Ronda, on October 16, I approached Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, the great Ronda Maestro, my old friend Antonio Ordoñez and his father Cayetano Ordoñez “El Niño de la Palma” (model for the matador Pedro Romero in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises), but none of them seemed moved by Eating Las Vegas to arise from their siestas.  I was tempted to approach one of Ronda’s period costumed bandolero enactors, but I was afraid that he might not try to steal the book. 

 Javier Hidalgo on the phone calling his lawyer about where it would be legal for him to be photographed with Eating Las Vegas, while I use his venencia cane to draw and pour sherry for his wife Paula Infiesta.

And, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, my soul town, the town where God was born, well, some places are sacred, plus I could not get my dear friend Javier Hidalgo to put down his venencia cane, from which he was pouring repeated samples of his stellar line of Manzanilla sherries.  Javier is also a jockey who trains and races horses in the spectacular carreras de caballos (horse races) that are run on Bajo de Guía beach in August and, while training a young horse a few months ago, he got tossed off the horse and broke his hip.  I really did not feel that I could ask a man who had spent several weeks in hospital to sign Curtas´s book.

 Roman Emperor Trajano, born in Itálica, just outside Sevilla.

 Roman Emperor Adriano, born in Itálica, just outside Sevilla.

At Itálica, the Roman city just outside Sevilla, neither Emperor Adrian or Trajan, both of whom were born there, showed any interest in posing with Curtas´s book, but Trajan did muse about how I might like to be fed to the lions in the nearby arena.  

 

Finally, in Sevilla, we were staying at the home of my Sevillano friends of half a century and I caught Mari Carmen Onrubia de Esquivias, one of the loveliest women in Sevilla, in her kitchen perusing Eating Las Vegas by John Curtas, Oct. 21, 2019.  She does not speak or read English, so she had no idea of what she was reading, so I snapped a picture, the last in my series of photographs of Eating Las Vegas in Spain.

 John Curtas (center) with a pair of Communist paella floggers, Jeffrey Weiss (left) and Paras Shah (right) of Valencia Gold (Paella For The People) in Las Vegas sending me their greetings as I head for Spain without them!

Postscript:  To John Curtas, yes I am fully aware that you are not worthy.

 

* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019)

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information.

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 

 About Gerry Dawes

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 
 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at  gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com