Contemplare Foundation. Showing the richness of the contemplative lifeThe lathe is on the net: convent sweets are sold onlineChristmas is approaching, the lights are coming back to the streets, and it's back to Contemplare with its Monastic Fairs. This year they are betting on the concept "Much more than sweets". The one that has been called "the Amazon of the monasteries", collaborates with a hundred, helping, on the one hand, in their various needs and, above all, being a current showcase, online and physical, universal. of the products made by nuns and monks from all over Spain.
"Buying their products is helping them to live their 'ora et labora'," they say at Contemplare. This Christmas, "of course we have tons of polvorones, mantecados, marzipan and nougat; the usual pastries, caramelized almonds, panettone and strong liqueurs".
Products from French monasteries
But Contemplare's Monastic Fairs "are much more than Christmas sweets. And this year especially, for the first time, we bring products from French monasteries, in an exchange of knowledge and specialties, and we debut with the pâté de campagne of the famous "Père Marc pigs" and with a delicious product very little known in Spain: rilletes de canard (shredded duck). All the tubs come directly from the Cistercians in Normandy".
Craft beers and sugar-free polvorones (sugar-free cookies)
Secondly, the foundation explains that "the men's monasteries in Spain, on the other hand, specialize in artisan beers - blonde, toasted and wheat - as well as in jams with unthinkable flavors. We will also offer them for sale along with their cheeses and even the milk from the cows that graze in the monasteries of Galicia".
"And for gourmands with special requests, this year we are enhancing the integral lines of typical products: a discovery the sugar-free polvoron!".
Handmade Advent wreaths and nativity scenes
In the selection of handicrafts, the great novelty is the hand-woven Advent wreaths, with their matching little angels to hang on the tree. And, of course, the nativity scenes made in silence and prayer throughout the year by the Sisters of Bethlehem, specialists in Christmas ornaments, angels and medals. Special mention should be made of the Infant Jesus of Charles de Foucauld, which is reddish and oriental.
In short, the Contemplare Foundation, according to those responsible, seeks to show, through its Christmas monastic fairs, 'the richness' of the thousands of men and women who have devoted his life to contemplationimmersed in the world through their prayers, but already anticipating the first fruits of Heaven.
Where to find them this year?
The Fairs will be located this year in the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, from Wednesday 11 to Sunday December 15, exclusive sale at the Casa de la Panadería the week just after the long weekend. In the ABC Serrano from December 5 to 20, as every year, almost the whole month. And outside Madrid, in the center of Oviedo, with eight wooden booths, from December 5 to 22. Of course, there will be "home delivery, like Amazon, from our web".
Alejandra Salinas, director of the Contemplare Foundation, assured Omnes last year that Contemplare is not only a way to sell some products, but it is a prelude to the monastery: "We want everyone to know what contemplative life is and what it means, the life of a monastery, of these men and women who enclose themselves and pray for us. We invite people to come to the monasteries because that is our goal: to show the richness of the contemplative life".
