|
Spaniards seem rarely to need much of a reason for a fiesta
or festival of some sort and you can pretty much guarantee that
wherever you are in Spain there will be some merrymaking going
on somewhere in honour of a patron saint
– I’ve decided to look at some of Spain’s quirkier, slightly
less known festivals and enlighten readers as to some of the stranger practices
which take place at various times around the country.
Our journey begins in the east of the country in the town of
Bunol in the Valencia region where a week long festival in honour
of the town’s patron saint, San Luis Bertran, ends in the
famous “Tomatina”, a two hour tomato
fight where lorries bring in 120,000 kg of tomatoes for the locals
to pelt each other with. It’s all a bit of a free-for-all
and it’s usually girls pitted against boys for two hours
of madness from 11am to 1pm. Participants can expect to get extremely
messy and it’s advisable to wear something old, and preferably
red, if you don’t want the stains to show up. Despite the “Tomatina” clearly
being the highlight, there are many other facets of the festival
to be enjoyed throughout the week with fireworks, parades and a
paella cook-off amongst the most notable.
Not so far away in the city of Valencia, townsfolk revel for
a week in the festivities of “Las Fallas”,
another one of Spain’s more unique festivals. The raucous
week of celebration takes place in March and is most notable for “Las
Fallas” which are huge papier-mâché figures
up to 60 feet in height. Built in the streets, the figures often
have a satirical edge; Tony Blair and George Bush’s effigies
graced last year’s festival. The culmination of the merry-making
comes on the “Night of Fire” when all 700 of “Las
fallas” are burnt to a cinder turning many of the city’s
streets into huge bonfires. Undoubtedly the local fire services
busiest evening of the year and certainly one not to be missed
by visitors to the region.
Next stop is Catalonia and the town of Valls located about 100km
south west of Barcelona, where every year townsfolk gather for
the legendary “Calcotada”. A celebration
of food and in particular the “calcot” (similar to
a spring onion) with road side bbq’s char grilling piles
of them for locals to eat. There’s even a hug pot of dipping
sauce on hand to spice things up a bit. The main event is the eating
competition as burly local champions from all over the region line
up to see how many onions they can put away in 45 minutes, apparently
it’s not uncommon for the victor to eat in excess of 300!
After a winner has been decided the town decamps to huge local
cafeterias where for a small fee the “calcots” are
served in plentiful numbers alongside grilled meats and washed
down with as much red wine as you can drink. It’s certainly
off the beaten track a little bit and for that reason you won’t
see many tourists but expect a warm welcome from the locals who
will, undoubtedly, be in high spirits.
29 th June, the day of San Pedro and we’re deep in Spain’s
wine producing heartland, La Rioja, where for one day every year
the medieval town of Haro is host to the famous “Batalla
de Vino” (literally “Wine Battle”). Apparently
the battle’s origins lie in an ancient dispute with between
Haro and its neighbours. These days the fight is pretty good natured
with thousands of gallons of wine being hurled around the battleground
(a hillside overlooking Haro). Like the Tomatina, this is going to
be a messy one and I’d suggest coming prepared with some
ammunition of your own, the locals have been doing this for years
so expect to take a few shots early on. |
