Aurum Masquerade

 Happy Sunday, everyone!

I´ve been pretty busy lately as a consequence of  job overload.

Pre-Easter evaluation is a nightmare for teachers, I can tell you: suddenly you have a large pile of exams to correct, plus half a hundred reports to write. Besides (and as an English teacher), you are charged with the responsability of deciding who is going to take the Cambridge exams and who is not.

Result? No time for reading, sleeping or eating properly.

But now I am done with it and I have one entire holiday week (hurray!) so finally I can tell you about the great masquerade ball which was celebrated last 9th of March.

♥ The Gentle One and I plus my friends Ana and Sade at the photocall, based in one of the Venetian gardens of the palace.

Aurum Masquerade was born as an annual event (this year was its first edition) and designed to gather recreationist, steampunk, lolita and fantasy comunities in a dream location. For this purpose, the amazing Hostal de los Reyes Católicos, a beautiful 15 th century palace in the heart of the city, was chosen. The place is a mixture between Renaissance and Baroque arquitecture, full of charming ballrooms and gardens that inmediately transport you to a glorious past.

 ♥ Some of my favourite assistants (amazing ensembles, don´t you think so?)

 ♥ The amazing organization team. I love her Marie Antoinette style!

We were received by a royal crier, who announced our names before entering to the great ballroom.

After that, The Gentle One  and me were blessed with the honour of opening the ball as dance teachers!

Well, we got really nervous but I have to say that it was an amazing experience to see all the guests following the minuet steps together. 

♥ Funny ball-opening!

After a lovely music selection formed by precious waltzes, minuets and polkas, we could taste the supper.
Dessert was yummy, with lots of cakes and fruit brochettes.
 We could also participate in a draw!
Many amazing prizes were raffled, such as brand lolita gowns, steampunk appliances and historic jewelry.
I was not lucky this time, but my friend Ana got a beautiful necklace.

♥ The girls of the local lolita comunity together.

♥ This moment looks like stolen from Sofía Coppola´s Marie Antoinette.

♥ I truly love her hairdo!

♥ My friends and I (and too much red wine at that time).

I can say that we had the most wonderful of the nights.

The general feeling was the one of being inside the pages of Cinderella and I can´t really stop thinking about next year´s edition.
 

So if you truly want to experience a fairy tale, come to the north of Spain next year!

Creep in, said the witch, and see if it is properly heated, so that we can shut the bread in

 Just in case you are wondering: yes, we celebrated the great Carnival season here in Spain last week.

 It is kind of a great event in the whole country but, in this little northern corner, it is something truly special.

We have our own traditional celebrations which include four days of non-stopping party with lots of food and crazy regional costumes. 

And the reason why it is so different from the rest of the country is that we (and I am very proud of it) have Celtic roots. 

Maybe that´s what makes me get dress as a witch every year, our folklore is deeply coloured by beldam stories. 

And when I say every year I really mean it. 

As time goes by, I collected more than a dozen witch hats. Believe or not, my parents have a fitted cabinet in my room that they call The Wicked Witch of the East cupboard and I suspect that:

1. They are going to sell them all as soon as I move to the UK to recover the ridiculously huge space the hats occupy.

2. If I try to keep the hats in there it will constitute a solid evidence of my mania.

3. I will finish my days at Arkham Asylum, where I´ll be known as The Dark Witch Hat Lady or something like that.

  

Going back to the party itself and, unfortunately for us this time,  

The Great God of Rain decided to spoil the fun.

We had a wet weekend and just one day of sunlight (well, indeed I am trying to keep the positive tone because calling sunlight to that sinister bunch of clouds we had all over the week is a little otherwordly).

The Gentle One and I really did our best to mantain the festive spirit considering the circumstances.

We went out for a walk in our costumes and even tried to go and see the parade, but it became pretty much like a nightmare with all the windy, cold and wet atmosphere. After a while we had to acknowledge our defeat and, as good soldiers, we retired into the warm and charming nineteenth century club, when one can simply spend hours by drinking tea and eating chocolate cake (which of course we did).

I think I didn´t have enough of masks, but I am happy I will have the chance to repeat it next month:

Some wonderful people is organizing a victorian-inspired masquerade for March in one of the most beautiful baroque palaces of my city. So if you are planning to visit Spain this Spring, that can be definitely the opportunity to step aside from crowded beaches and doing something memorable.

The Aurum Masquerade

Tell me, do you celebrate the carnival season in your country?