La Vida Alcalaína

María Francisca Ulloa del Castillo brought hundreds of alcalaínos and alcalaínas into the world during her nearly forty years as the town's midwife, and she is fondly remembered in the pueblo.  But she was more than just a competent midwife - she was a feminist pioneer. María was born in 1887 in Utrera, in the province of Sevilla.  In 1914, at the fairly advanced age of 27, she married a carabinero  named Juan Rodríguez, and moved with him when he was transfered to Medina Sidonia in Cádiz.  There she set up an embroidery workshop, and they had four children. She became good friends with her neighbour Josefa, the local midwife, and it was through their friendship that María's vocation for her future profession was born.  It wasn't easy at that time for a married woman approaching forty to take up a career. She lived in a small isolated village in a society where a woman's place was very much in the home.  To complete the three years of training required to p...

In August 2004 Matthew Coman, an Englishman who had made his home in Alcalá, staged the town's first music festival.  He invited colleagues from a group of classical musicians, known as The Soloists of London, to spend a week in the pueblo and give concerts in the beautiful patio of the Sagrada Familia school (SAFA), a former convent on the Plaza Alta. The Soloists of London in the SAFA patio Poster from the fifth festival in 2008 In 2009 the festival including a performance by a group of young musicians from around the province, after a week of rehearsals under Coman's supervision. This  inspired a painting by the late Jesús Cuesta Arana, which was used for that year's poster. Poster artwork from the 2009 festival, by the late Jesús Cuesta Arana Young musicians rehearsing for their concert For the following few years the festival remained focused on classical music, even staging a production of La Traviata in the church. Tickets weren't available in advance in those da...

  The old town hall on the Plaza Alta Visitors to Alcalá will not immediately recognise this little white village as a city, but in fact it has had city status since 1876. This year celebrates the 150th anniversary of its change in status from Villa to Ciudad, and the alcalaínos have been celebrating. Some historical background During the decade leading up to 1876 Spain had experienced considerable political turmoil. In 1868 there was a revolution against Queen Isabel II, who was deeply unpopular. Known as "La Gloriosa", the revolt was led by two former army generals, Juan Prim and Francisco Serrano. It started with a naval mutiny in Cádiz, and following her defeat at the Battle of Alcolea, near Cordoba, Isabel fled to France. Serrano became president of a new Provisional Government but this was doomed to failure as it was comprised of a mishmash of Liberals, Moderates and Republicans with nothing in common except a desire to get rid of Isabel. They did however manage to dra...

Mother's Day in Spain is celebrated on the first Sunday in May.  This is the month of the Virgin Mary, and who better to represent motherhood with all its joys and sorrows? In Alcalá the local representation of the mother of Jesus, Nuestra Señora de los Santos, arrived yesterday on her quadrennial visit to the pueblo of which she is patron.  Her image was transported on an ox-drawn cart from the Santuario where it is normally kept, a few miles from the town, accompanied by hundreds of alcalaínos in festive mood and a band comprised of fifes and drums. Meanwhile back in the town the image of Jesús el Nazareno was carried from the newly restored Franciscan church on the Alameda, known as La Victoria, down the steep street named after the Virgin - Calle Nuestra Señora de los Santos. Eventually the two came together on the Prado, a stretch of meadowland next to the the Rio Barbate. The whole process has taken about six hours so far but we're not finished yet.  María was trans...