News, May 2005

News Theme: Big events in 2005, 400th anniversary of El Quijote

IN a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind... on just such a day as this 400 years ago... 2005 is the 400th anniversary of (part 1 of) the mother of all novels, Cervantes' Don Quijote, a book written under the eyes of the Spanish Inquisition but which expresses many ideas and quotes scripture at large. Evangelicals have not missed this fact and are hard at work to point out the references!

Indeed, the Centro de Estudios de la Reforma (CER - Reformation Study Centre) is involved in a number of exhibitions both in the evangelical and secular cultural circuits, to support the anniversary year. For example, in November '04 it supported an exhibition in Denia, Valencia. Valencia was one of the locations where the book was published, the others being Madrid and Lisbon. CER will also be involved in exhibitions in Coria del Rio and Dos Hermanas (Seville) 15th to 30th April and a guided tour in Castilla -La- Mancha 26th to 28th February, among others.

23rd april is celebrated as Cervantes' official birthday, althoug actually it is the anniversary of his death in 1616. Cervantes' real birthday was 29th September, 1547. Cervantes was one of the soldiers who fought Spain's great naval victory against the Turks, Lepanto, in 1571. The second part of Don Quijote was published in 1615.

More about it or read it on line: http://www.donquixote.com/english.html

BBC comment on the event: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4179869.stm