Tag: halloween

Postcard From Madrid, Spain: Bewitched and bedeviled

postcardsfromsanantonio1 Comment
Vintage Spanish stamp depicting a witch flying with children, inscribed with 'Quinta Sevilla Goya' and 'Correos Aéreos España'.

Above: Detail of “Allegoric Capricio,” Eugenio Lucas Velazquez (1817-1870), 1852, Lazaro Galdiano Museum.

Vispera de Todos los Santos. The hallowed eve preceding two holy days in the Catholic Church: All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. Or, for the superstitious, La Noche de Brujas, when the witches fly.

Today, it appears Spain has succumbed to the highly contagious American-style celebration of Halloween. With all its horror-film-like bloody mess.

Continue reading “Postcard From Madrid, Spain: Bewitched and bedeviled” →

Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: All Hallows’ Eve

postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

Store displays gave us advance warning American Halloween traditions had bridged the ocean to invade Europe.

Spain’s vulnerability is enhanced by the fact that Halloween is the eve of a national holiday – Dia de Todos los Santos, or All Saints’ Day. While not a full-scale conquest yet, Bilbao appears on the cusp of adopting costumes.

Continue reading “Postcard from Bilbao, Spain: All Hallows’ Eve” →

Ghosts with Halloween howling rights in Brackenridge Park

postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

Above: Do Laszlo Ujhazy (1795-1870) and his baying vizsla hounds haunt Brackenridge Park to avenge the brutal 1899 murder of his daughter, Helen Madarasz?

Tired of recycling the same old San Antonio ghost stories? Time to pay attention to a few of the many spirits probably haunting the banks of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park. Any resemblances to real persons, actual dead people, referenced in this post are absolutely intentional.

Continue reading “Ghosts with Halloween howling rights in Brackenridge Park” →