Juanita la Larga: a Novel

Chapter 37

Chapter 37 Everything was in turmoil that day on the ground floor of the cacique’s house. The entire household worked at various tasks in order to prepare for a big celebration that would take place the following day, Wednesday. The procession, which was a preamble to the others, and would be in the afternoon, was supervised and paid for every year by Don Andrés Rubio. Three masterpieces of sculpture appear in this procession, all of them so heavy that an army of Nazarenes is needed to bear the pieces through the streets on platforms. The first sculpture represents the Lord of the Donkey. Jesus rides on the humble animal and enters Jerusalem triumphally. The crowd, made up of a great number of Nazarenes, Roman soldiers, and Jews, marches in front of the image with palms and big, leafy, olive-tree branches. Afterwards, preceded by all the ensabanados, encolchados, and jumeones , comes the Last Supper, whose weight is tremendous, seeing that the complete image consists of thirteen life-size figures and the table, which also weighs a fair amount and is covered and adorned with flowers, as well as with the most exquisite fruits that people have been able to preserve until that day with the greatest care, and with a tall and elaborate epergne of sweets, which the most clever and ingenious of the confectioners puts all he has into decorating. After the Last Supper, and also preceded by many people, comes the Prayer in the Garden, where Christ prays on his knees. An angel, who wants to be in the air but leans on the branch of an olive tree, offers Christ the chalice of bitterness, and the disciples lie on the ground, asleep. 195 Once the procession ends, Don Andrés has to roll out the red carpet and feed the apostles, the prophets, the biblical personages of old, the populace of Jerusalem, the Nazarenes, and the Roman garrison. The three sculptures described above were already on display to the public on Tuesday, not in churches, but in the cacique’s house, in an immense ground-floor room whose walls were hung with red damask, and adorned with cornucopias, flowers, and greenery, and illuminated at night with a profusion of wax candles. To see to all of this, Don Andrés had engaged Juana la Larga, who on both Tuesday and Wednesday could scarcely leave his house to go to hers, except to go to bed. On Wednesday especially Juana’s work was overwhelming. She had to cook the splendid supper of abstinence for that entire horde of people. To start there would be chickpea potage with spinach; then, as the main course, codfish ragout; and as a second or light course, an exquiste alboronía,1 that could be applauded, were he to return to life, by the famous chef of Baghdad himself, who invented it, giving it the name of the beautiful Alboran, the favorite sultaness of the caliph Harun al-Raschid, hero of the Thousand and One Nights, and princess to whom said chef had the honor of dedicating it. Of course for dessert there would be the inevitable honey fritters, and wine in abundance to quench the thirst generated by the salt still in the cod despite the soaking, and by the spiciness of the several varieties of hot peppers that are consumed that day. It was hoped furthermore that a good quantity of fresh dogfish would arrive in time from Málaga, dogfish that Juana would prepare and have served to everybody, or else only to the apostles, prophets, and kings, if there was not a sufficient amount for the populace. Lastly, Juana had promised to make a dish of her own invention that causes the small fry in those parts to lick their fingers with joy, a 196 Juanita la Larga 1. A stew of chopped vegetables that typically consists of eggplant, tomato, squash, and peppers. Juanita la Larga 197 dish that has the unique capability of repeating, insofar as is humanly possible, the miracle of the loaves and fishes, because with two dozen eggs and the crumbs of half of a large loaf of bread a hundred men stuff themselves, thanks to the tasty garlic and pepper sauce in which she sautés the light cakes after frying them and in whose broth bread is dipped and turned into soup that is devoured with delight. To this...