The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-05-29
A Letter From Spain.

Mrs. T. w. Waller, Of Decatur
City, has received the following in.
teresting letter from her nephew
George w. Tinsley, who was sent
with several other bright young
Americans to Spain to construct a
large dam, and kindly permits us to
publish the letter: ,.... ID. .
Tremp, Spain, March 25, 1913
Dear folks at home:
l suppose you are anxious to know
what interesting things have happen
ed in this long forgotten country. OF
course this subject is far from being
"a new one, it's observance here hay
ing been handed down from genera
ton to generation, for goodness
knows how many centuries but new
ertheless it was extremely interest
ing to us who have come from a
land where the government does not
force religious belief upon it's peo-
pie at the point of the bayonets of
it's soldiery AS l have mentioned
several times before, it is hard to
understand why people, will sub
NIT to the heavy taxation and the
}hardships that are forced upon them
by the state under the plea that it
goes to the maintenance of the
church when they can plainly see
how little is offered them in return,
and how much goes toward the en-
richment of the already overtlowing
Golfers of the individuals. Neverthe-
less there is strong undercurrent
of ever increasing satisfaction,
and one only needs to look upon the
large number of armed soldiers, that
are always in attendance upon large
religious celebrations, to realize that
the powers that be" are taking ev-
cry precaution to avoid repetition
of the fate of the church in France.
Only last week on the work here
saw one body of mechanics lay down
their tools and leave the works for
three days, because they said it was
bad luck to work for at least three
days after two priests had come close
to them and watched them work.
j started out to describe the OBJ
serVance of Easter here but got
little off my story. The holidays at
Easter are the most widely celebrat
ed of any in Spain. In most of the
towns and cities the entire week
from the 18th to the 25th inclusive
is celebrated, and almost no work is
done anywhere. On Good Friday ev
eryone wears purple. On Saturday
the entire country is in black, but on
Easter Sunday all dark colors give
way to pure white, and everybody
gets out on their balconies or on
the streets. On the night of Good
Friday throughout the entire coun-
try is observed the most religious
Procession" in connection with the
church. l must admit that of all the
Americans who observed the Pro
cession'' none could be found who
did not say that it bordered very
closely upon mOckery. In the first
place it was hard for any of us to
understand why so sacred thing as
the portrayal of the Crucifixion of
Christ should need to be placed in
the hands of the Army that it might
be properly observed. In our coun-
try one generally follows the die
tates of his conscience in matters APP
pertaining to religion, but here the
ceremonies were carried out by or
ders of the State through it's agent
the Army Gorgeously attired mem
bers of the 'Guardia Civil" the pick
ed men of the Spanish army, were
everywhere in attendance and direct
ed the ceremonies from start to fin
ish. AS have previously stated the
procession portrayed the journey of
Christ carrying His cross to the place
of crucifixion, with the two thieves,
the Roman soldiers, and persons i'm
personating all the different people
who accompanied Him. The process
sion formed in two files headed by
Judas carrying and jingling loudly,
his bag of money received for his
betrayal of Christ Immediately fol-
lowing came the general Of the Ro-
man army commanding his soldiers.
All the soldiers, and there was quite
a small army of them, were dressed
as the Romans are supposed to have
dressed at that time. Their heads
were closely shaven, and each man
carried a shield, long sword and a
characteristic, Roman spear. All
wore sandals, metal helmets, etc.,
and marched very slowly to the beat
ing of a drum. The drummer would
strike one blow on the drum, at
which sound all would move forward
one long step. He would then sound
two more beats of the drum in quick
succession, at which all the soldiers
would move forward two short steps
anu VI IuC last SLCp WOulU
their spears down with bang on
the cobble stones and then stand
perfectly still for a short interval
before the drum would sound again.
Occasionally they would halt and go
through short drill led by the gen.
eral and conducted solely by signals
from him without word being spok-
en-. As the streets are very dark
here the spectators carried candles
to furnish light, and assure you
that the strange crowd, the brilliant
uniforms of the Spanish Soldiers,
and the reflection of the Pickering
candles on the metal trappings of
the Roman soldiers resembled very
little solemn religious ceremony.
Immediately following the Romans
and the drummer, came the thieves
with their crosses and after them
the figure Of Christ staggering under
the load of heavy wooden cross, '
dragging heavy chains fastened about
his ankles and waist. At various
distances following, came persons
bearing banners with words thereon