05/29/2007 Archived Article: "Church bells are ringing again"
They started tolling on Pentecost, 2007, and the repair was paid for by the Ayuntamiento de Gaucín, with the approval of the Junta de Gobierno. What you hear are the actual old bells. Three have been electrified, and a fourth could be added if someone would donate the money (about 2 - 4000 euros.) The bells have been computerized so that they can be managed from a mobile phone from anywhere in the world. The system has 25 memories; but in Gaucín we are only using 9 of them.
Following is the meaning of the various rings: 1.- For daily mass: two bells alternating for 1 minute. 2.- Sunday Mass: 3 bells chime for 2 minutes, and 3 times half an hour before. 3.- Funeral Masses: 2 bells alternating very slowly during 2 minutes. 4.- Tolling for a man who has died: 7 tolls of 2 bells simultaneously for 3 minutes. 5.- Tolling for a woman who has died: 5 tolls of 2 bells simultaneously for 3 minutes. 6.- Solemn chime: 3 bells chime simultaneously for 3 minutes. 7.- Funeral: 1 bell with a show chime for 10 minutes, while the body is carried to the cemetery, or something horrible has happened. 8.- Ángelus: at 12 noon, the bell facing the valley chimes for 30 seconds.
The computer for the bells has a clock that has been programmed to ring two of the bells every quarter hour from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., at which time it stops so that sleep is not interrupted.
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