Xixón Antroxu 2025 Day II and Some Serie A Results

Saturday, March 1, 2025

It was cold, windy Day II for our big pre-Lenten festival known as Xixón Antroxu 2025.

There were three big events scheduled for the day.

To begin with, at Noon, in the Teatro Jovellanos, there was the XXX Desfile de Antroxu. This is an event for kids to show off their Antroxu festival costumes. The entry fee was 4€.

At 7:00 p.m., in the same venue, there was going to be the XXXVII Concurso de Charangas. This was the first of two of these music festivals held on back-to-back nights with tickets extremely difficult to obtain.

Unless you know a guy.

Mariners Team President Kike Prado Alonso is that guy.

The Mariners outstanding lineman, Taye Courtney, and I will indeed be in attendance at Sunday night's XXXVII Concurso de Charangas second session. It should be fun.

The final shindig of the night, from 10:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., was the Baile de Mascaras held at the Plaza de Toros de El Bibio. It would cost one 22€ to take part in this masquerade ball.

I had no costume, so I passed on this event as well.

Not to worry, there was still lots to see today on my morning constitutional.

King Pelayo had a new chapeau

Heraldry kept imperceptibly eroding

Our man was still pouring sidra

overlooking the Plaza Mayor

We had a glorious Sunrise over

La Playa de San Lorenzo

No matter the temperature or the wind,

smokers still take their breakfast al fresco

Old buildings on the left and a tired

yellow edifice on the right

In the evening, I headed back out and walked to the Teatro Jovellanos to see if I could at least see any costumes of interest.

The first of many zebras from the

Madagascar animated movie series

A Trio of Leprechauns

Northern Spain claims deep Celtic roots you know.

We are gorgeous and we know it!

A Drum Line in full regalia . . .

. . . and another

Zebras EVERYWHERE!

I got close to this one being sure to stay

downwind so as not to spook her

The Jardines de Begoña were lit

up and full of young revelers

The Teatro Jovellanos courtyard

was packed as TVs showed the multitudes

the live music revue going on inside

Where did that whale come from?

Suddenly one of the Drum Lines and

Dancers sprung to life and started marching

As the drummers passed me, my

entire body shook from the vibrations

The sharp dressed leader of

The Purple Gang

It was getting a little late and the wind was making it much colder than it really was, so I started walking home.

Nice Antroxu costumes on these

two birds in a random hotel lobby

I stopped at this café for a

Carajillo

It is the Spanish version of an Irish coffee.

This warm and delicious libation was the perfect end to my walk on this cold evening.

While all of the Mariners (1-4) were enjoying the Antroxu festivities as well as the Serie A Western Conference bye week, there were still three American football games of note being played today.

In this Western Conference skirmish

Las Rozas (6-0) dominated

Zaragoza (0-5)

With this win, the two time defending Serie A National Champion Black Demons secured the Western Conference's #1 seed in the fast approaching playoffs. They are the only undefeated team left in Spain's top ten team division this season.

The second Western Conference game

saw Rivas (4-2) edging Coslada (3-3)

Barring the loss of both of their last two regular season games, the Osos win almost assures them of Second Place in the Western Conference and the final Western Conference playoff spot.

There was one Eastern Conference

contest today as Terrassa (4-1-1)

raced past L'Hospitalet (2-4)

The Reds win secures them of one of the two Eastern Conference playoff spots. Whether that is as the Conference's #1 seed or #2 seed remains to be seen.

The final Serie A game of the weekend will be played on Sunday when the Badalona Dracs (4-1) host the Mallorca Voltors (1-3) at Noon. Mallorca upset the Dracs, 24-22, in their first meeting this season back on January 19th.

The Eastern Conference bye this weekend belonged to the Barcelona Pagesos (1-3-1).

All of Serie A will have a weekend without games on March 8-9 before resuming play on March 15-16 with a full slate of four more games.

Another GREAT Menú Meal and the Start of Xixón Antroxu 2025

Friday, February 28, 2025

This final day of the month begged for me to clean up my appearance on the first day of Gijón's Carnival weekend, also known as Xixón Antroxu 2025.

Thus, I headed to see David at the

Peluqueria Friends

This bare bones barbershop, with David as both the sole proprietor and the lone barber, is located in a grittier working class neighborhood about 3/4 of a mile west of the apartment.

Friends attracts ne'er-do-wells such as myself for the witty repartee that can only be found in a men's barbershop in any country on the face of the earth.

David is one of those men gifted with a knowledge, to at least a small degree, on any topic that comes up with his clientele.

Or perhaps he just makes it up as he goes along, it doesn't really matter as he works to just keep the conversation moving along without a fist fight breaking out.

That brawl is only a potential threat when the subject turns to soccer and the Gijón Sporting-Real Oviedo rivalry comes up or, perhaps, if someone blurts out that Real Madrid has a way better team this year than FC Barcelona despite their currently being tied for first place in La Liga.

I find that David is also someone who embraces his community with an open door policy and empathy.

While waiting my turn today for a haircut and beard trim, David worked on an older man named Esteban.

As it turns out, Esteban is a man living beyond the means of his monthly pension check. The conversation affirmed that he likes to spend money on alcohol and women. He wastes the rest of his income on frivolous items.

David completely understood about Esteban's circumstances and agreed to let him pay for this haircut on the 15th of March when his next paycheck arrives.

While trimming my dome back to health, another character walked into Friends by the name of Carlos. He added to our talks about sports, American gun laws and the differences between rugby and American football.

When Carlos left, David informed me that Carlos is an old friend who drops in regularly to visit but is suffering from bouts of schizophrenia. When Carlos is on his meds, as apparently he was today, he is a delightful chap.

When he is off his meds, well, that's when the Friends family steps in to help.

I really like David and the Friend's family that I'm meeting each time I come in for a trimming.

It is INDEED the first day of

Xixón Antroxu 2025!

This blue Storm Trooper walking his dog confirmed it.

Two short Spanish women talking

on the sidewalk is a common sight

I tried a new spot for lunch today

ordering the Daily Menú Special

Pote Asturiano

Pote is a stew with four meat cuts, collard greens, potatoes and beans.

Delicious!

The Daily Menú also included that bottle of sparkling water, the entire bottle of red wine and the bread.

Picadillo and Fried Potatoes

Picadillo is ground up, spicy chorizo.

Throw in an excellent slice of cinnamon French Toast for dessert followed by a cafe cortado and I was pretty much done eating for the day.

The total cost of my meal was a mere 20.30 Euros.

I have got to try properly pouring Sidra

at least once before I leave Asturias

It seems to me that anytime one gets

a tattoo there is a Good Story involved

I wonder if she got one today?

Damn these bakery display windows!

At 7:00 p.m., Xixón Antroxu 2025

officially kicked off with a parade

Now, one thing that David and Carlos warned me about Carnival in Gijón is that it is definitely not an organized display of scantily clad, busty women parading their charms down the street.

They did mention that the club life this weekend is where women of this bent could be found in all their cutaneous glory.

I headed to the Begoña district and its Teatro Jovellanos where a parade featuring drum corps and their dance teams were assembling before their half hour marches to the Plaza Mayor.

Antroxu Xixón sign awaiting

darkness to be lit up . . .

. . . same with these in Jardines de Begoña

Antroxu mean costumes of

varying degrees like "hers"

A mini-carousel in this setting

was a good idea

So was this mini-Ferris Wheel

The multi-colored drum lines were

amassing in front of the Teatro Jovellanos

The Medusa?

Fortunately for me, she was looking the other way, so I averted my eyes from her potential harm.

Where did that whale come from?

Great Scottish Tartan Beret

on the man in the middle

 

The Blue Corps was braided

and ready to march

Lots of resplendent hair

colors were on view

A family getting into the

Antroxu Spirit

This attractive old movie palace, the

Teatro Arango, is now a Burger King

Time and progress march on . . .

. . . as finally did our much

anticipated parade

The Black Squad led the way

with well dressed female dancers

I loved their neon pink drumstick hoods

GREAT HAIR!

It's real, right?

Here comes the Orange Saints

The dancers sported white halos . . .

. . . while the musicians wore black ones

I decided to walk at a faster pace than the drum corps to the end spot of this rather loud procession, the Plaza Mayor, to get a good spot to see the finish of the festivities.

See you all again in a bit

The Ayuntamiento/City Hall was

lit up and ready for the approaching crowd

The Orange Saints came marching in . . .

They were still full of pep to be sure!

"The whole rhythm section was

the Purple Gang . . ."

Marching for the Ukraine?

Glow Sticks and Drums,

PERFECT!

LET'S ROCK!

Who is that on the

Ayuntamiento's balcony?

 

It was the Sardine

The Sardine is the symbol of Antroxu who will "die" and be "buried" on Tuesday night as a sign of the imminent start of Lent the next day on Ash Wednesday.

It was a fun way to start the weekend but afterwards I opted to curtail my clubbing plans for another night and head home.

Wait, isn't that Notre Dame's

Fighting Leprechaun? 

If it is, he is now moonlighting as a Fighting Moor on this varsity jacket on display at a skateboard shop.

Stones Against Bullets?

Let the Weekend Begin!