Last week I went to the Hospital de los Venerables, a building built after the plague, for poverty stricken priests and ecclesiasticals. The plague devastated the population so badly that Sevilla never recovered economically, having previously been incredibly rich, due to the plundering of the "New World". They explained that religion was one of the few things people had to hold on to during this time especially, and I believe that this may have been meant to explain some of the religious traditions that still have such strength.

Inside the courtyard house, there is a collection of paintings of Velazquez and a few other painters. The most obvious attraction though, is the church, one whole side of the courtyard - it is cathedral like - just too small to be called one. When I first went in, there was about six stringed instruments sitting on a high ledge, playing with the organist. It was awesome. They later came down and others joined them. It was an 18 piece stringed orchestra, practicing. The visitors got to listen to them all morning.
I was a little bit in awe at first, looking at the church with its murals on the ceiling and ancient paintings and hearing this music, especially with the organ. Maybe the fact that they were practicing and kept stopping also helped trigger this thought. I felt: this music does not belong to me; it is European. This music comes from here (in general); it comes from an everyday life where musicians get to practice in such splendour. They have unbroken connection to the buildings and the traditions and ways of life that this music came from, that I do not have. I felt like I suddenly understood a bit better what it means to be European, and why they are the way they are, in particular, that it seems so much more normal here for people to wear suits, and why there is more importance in being well-dressed. Because that has always been part of their everyday lives, just like grand cathedrals. I believe there is something else very subtle in the way they think and act, which I can't quite put a finger on. (By the way, the leader of the orchestra had jeans and a regular shirt on, so that wasn't what made me have this revelation.)