New Year's celebrations

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,The whole world fairly knows about "Reveillon", the New year Eve!s celebration in Rio de Janeiro.  First, the city itself is a wonder of beauty, naturally and architectonally. Copacabana is a U shaped bay, three kilometers long, joined by another U shaped bay to its left, where the Flamingo and Botafogo (spews fire) beaches are, and joined to the right by yet another U shaped bay with the famous Ipanema beach and the less famous, but erqually beautiful Leblon beach.  All those beaches have fireworks in New year!s eve and they vie with one another for splendor. Copacabana being the largest and shaped in a way that what one may think of as the top of the U almost meets, has the most spectacular fireworks.  They go on for more than 30 minutes and form scenes in the sky: lips kissing, flowers crossing hearts, hearts intertwining, glasses of champagne being poured and birds kissing flowers. The hummingbird is a favorite bird in Brasil where it is called "beijaflor" !
 (flower-kisser).The fireworks are sert off from ships and barges all over the bay and, believe-it-or-not, as they come down they fall with music!. Further, there are "cascading" fireworks from the top of the tall buildings that abut the beach, which look like fiery waterfalls, so that fireworks are going up and coming down.  It is extraordinarily magnificent.  After the fireworks, the million or so people who congragate at the water!s edge just party on until next noon or so.   Impossible to top..... and yet,In Santiago the fireworks were set off in Quintana square (a fairly small place, if you recall), and they were mind-boggling. The Holy Door had closed at nine p.m. and a stage had been set up in Platerias, by the stairway leading up to Quintana, for popular entertainment, and another one in Quintana, by the arches, for the musicians who were a whole load of female bag-pipers in casual dress (I didn!t even know that females play bag-pipes!). Before midnight people, spons!
 ored by the Xunta, I think, went around distributing grapes in little 
plastic champagne glasses, and later, there was always someone passing by with huge bottles of Cava ,(Spanish Champagne), filling up the glasses.. Not knowing any better <I had the wine poured on top of the grapes, to the merriment of those near me. Just before midnight there was a sound from atop the Cathedral, which sounded like Troooo Troooo Trooo, which was a worning to get ready.  About 15 seconds later the Berenguela (the famous bell in the clock tower which was stolen by almanzor and brought back to Santiago in triumph centuries later), began pealing every three seconds for twelve times, and then all the bells joined in and the fireworks began.  The idea was to eat one grape every time the bell rang, and then down the Cava when all the bells chimed in.The fireworks were set off from the roof of the Cathedral and the monastery; those coming out of the Cathedral looked like lotus flowers that became stars as they ascended.... and they went on and on.  It looked as thoug!
 h some magic powers of the universe were signaling a holy place from which stars were shooting up.Some of the people were shouting, over and over, "Compostela, Compostela", and during the fireworks there were some blue spot lights fixed on the windows of that arcaded building at the bottom of the Quintana, where some young Galician women were singing Galician sons lustily accompanied by their tambourins and the oodles of bagpipers below.  At the end of the fireworks the words "Compostela 2004" appeared in the sky in flaming large red letters and then they evanesced into a smoke cloud that joined the real ones.It was spellbinding, and it will be, for me, unforgettable forever and ever.After the fireworks there was a huge dance on the square that went on and on.I went to bed and when I got up the following morning I looked in vain for a bloody Mary or some similar hair of the dog, and was surprised to find that the Galician answer to a hangover is churros (those twisted donut!
 -like pastries and chocolate (heavy cocoa).Not attracted by the prospe
ct, I!m afraid I faced 2004 with a beer and churros.  Oh well! Someone in the crowd told me that the official beginning of the Holy Year, pinpointed by the Botafumeiro, would take place in the Cathedral at 11:30.I will write about it later and also about the choral concert in the Cathedral that took place at 9:00 p.m.I!m still over excited about the whole thing and need to come down to earth somewhat. One other thing: although it had been raining and raining in Santiago for days, the rain stopped for the opening of the Holy Door and the New Year Eve!s celebrations.  The following morning the weather went back to raining, as usual.Big hug to all!Rosina (from the peace and quiet of Rome with its one million holiday visitors