February 1 – San Cecilio Day in Grenada, Spain

By Michael Knox

February 1, 2017

0

n

nPostedn on February 1, 2017

n

nForncenturies and centuries centuries (like, around 700 years), much of the Iberian peninsulan(today, Spain and Portugal) were ruled by Moors. The Moors werenMuslims from northwestern Africa – and if you check out a map, younwill see why Spain was the part of Europe that the Moors first conquerednrather than, say, Greece or Italy.

n

The map above is marked with today’s country names.
Note that the northwestern part of Africa, namely Morocco,
is extremely close to the southern tip of Spain.

n

The Moors crossed the narrow Strait of Gibraltar
to enter Spain and the Iberian Peninsula.

n

Granadanis one of the cities in Spain that has some wonderful architecturalnreminders of the nation’s Moorish past, especially the palace callednthe Alhambra.

n

n
n
n

n

n
n

n

Above, the Alhambra

n

n
n

n

Ofncourse, patron saints are a feature of the Catholic religion, not ofnIslam, and as of the late 1400s, Catholics reconquered Spain,nincluding Grenada. The patron saint of Grenada, Saint Caecilius ofnElvira (in Spanish, San Cecilio), who lived long before thenMoors ever came.

n

nToday,non Saint Caecilius’s feast day, there is a procession in his honor asnwell as performances and other festivities. n

n

nInjust have to get back to how great the Alhambra is, though…I mean,nlook at this place:

n

n
n

n

Note that Muslim buildings are often highly decorated –
HOWEVER, importantly, they are not decorated with pictures
of people and animals — and certainly not of prophets or gods!
That sort of depiction is against Muslim rules.
Instead, the decorations tend to be geometric patterns and calligraphy.

n
n

n