In the news: 80 years ago

Almost 80 years ago to the day, Time Magazine ran a small piece in the Foreign News section on Mantilla Week in Spain:

To foreigners the graceful Spanish mantilla, a veil of cobwebby black or white lace worn on the heads of Spanish ladies,-is as typical of the country as bull fighting or olla podrida (meat and vegetable stew). In modern Spain the only times that mantillas are actually worn are at gala occasions, such as bull fights and during Holy Week. Her Majesty Queen Victoria Eugenie and the Infantas Beatriz and Maria Christina officially inaugurated Mantilla Week by marching into Madrid's cathedral last week, their heads shrouded in the most cobwebby of cream lace mantillas.

-A mantilla should be about two yards square. It is a venerable test of quality that a good mantilla should be sheer enough to be pulled through a wedding ring.


(A more recent photo of women wearing mantillas during Holy Week in Spain)