DIA DE TODOS LOS SANTOS

All Saints Day in Spain (Todos Los Santos) -November 1st. This religious/national public holiday is very important to the people of Spain. Many people from all over the country will return to their town or village to visit the graves of deceased relatives and lay flowers. The Spanish have two birthdays each year, one is their customary birthday to remember the day they were born. The second is when they celebrate the day of their personal patron saint (usually the one they were named after). However, on November 1st each year, the Feast of All of the Saints is held and this particular public holiday is about remembering family members who have died visit the graves of relatives to decorate them with intricate floral displays. For most people, this is a very emotional day. Often the Eucharist, or Mass, is performed several times during the day in the cemetery. As with many festivals throughout the country a number of special dishes are associated with All Saints’ Day like eating roasted chestnuts, castañas, together with small almond cakes, panellets. The tradition or eating chestnuts originates from the legend of a chestnut seller called Maria La Castañada about whom there are many stories. Apparently the almond cakes are in remembrance of the days when homemade cakes and offerings were left with the bodies of the dead. At this time of the year it is quite usual to see in shops huesos de santo – the saint’s bones – which are made from marzipan, eggs, sugar syrup and buñuelos de viento – puffs of wind – these are doughnuts generously sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. In the 10th century All Saints’ Day was celebrated on May 13th until Popes Gregory III and IV moved it to November 1st because they wanted to counteract the pagan festival, the predecessor of Halloween that was held at that time of the year. It was believed by the ancient Gaels that at this time of the year, often known as the Celtic New Year, was when the boundaries between the living and the dead faded away so the Church linked this with All Saints’ Day. Originally as well as holding vigils this was a time of fasting. What started as a time of remembrance of the Christian martyrs changed into today’s custom of remembering all those who have died. One of the traditions of ‘All Saints Day’ is the enacting of the play Don Juan Tenorio, written by José Zorrilla. The final act of this depiction of Don Juan’s choice between salvation or hell is set in a cemetery with the legendary lover grieving over his betrayal of his dead lover.

BANK SCAM – Ground Clause (Clausula Suelo)

How many times I have said to British people signing Escrituras (Deeds) in front of a Notary when they have purchased property in Spain “well my friends at least in Spain you get to see and keep the deeds of your property, whilst in your country the bank keeps it and only shows it to you if you really kick up a fuss.” One client from up north once said to me “what’s the point in me keeping it if I can’t read the bloody thing.” He also had a point. What I am getting at is that we mere mortals tend to accept blindly that because we have a lawyer, accountant, and bank manager working for us these people will look after our interest. Very often it does not work like that, not in Europe and especially not in Spain. I have discovered that my own mortgage, which I was led to believe by my friendly bank manager that the repayments could vary according to the Up and Down of the Euribor. So that Up meant I loose and Down I gain is in fact nothing of the sort, in fact Up I lose and Down I lose is the stark reality. The most frustrating thing is that I can only blame myself. I had the terms and conditions of the mortgage in my hand, all 25 pages of it and 5 minutes to read it before the Notary called us through, so I just skipped to the resume and it looked good or at least it did not mention the Ground Clause (Clausula Suelo) which was instead neatly slotted three quarters down on page 20. What the clause says is that if the Euribor goes Up your repayment increases accordingly and if it goes Down like it has now – 1% you get no benefit. As simple as that. Not all banks have resorted to this deceit, only most of them have and in 2012 Malaga courts have dictated seven sentences forcing the banks to return the money obtained through this con. In some cases the amount runs into thousands of Euros. How do you know if you have been conned by the bank? Well I read about this scam in the Spanish papers so I went to see David Perez of Martinez Echevarria Lawyers and they are working on my case. They seem to think that I will get some money back. ‘I live in hope.’ Obviously one thing will change, my friendly bank manager will not be friendly anymore.