In Spain, the calendar year is a kaleidoscope of celebration, a constant whirl of dancing, drinking, and devotion. There are festivals to honor saints, bulls, horses, flowers, grapes, and shellfish. There are symphony orchestras and blaring local bands, dancers in ballet slippers and on stilts, and evenings lit by chandeliers or fireworks.
The festivals provide a chance for young Spanish men to show off their skillsand the original machismoin climbing poles, wrestling bulls, or standing on each other's shoulders to form Catalonia's six-story castellers, or human towers. Each festival bears the trademark of its town, like the stomp, strum, clap, and yodel of Granada's Festival IntemacionaL de Musica y Danza (International Festival of Music and Dance) or the flowers and frills of Seville's Feria de Abril (April Fair).
Most festivals coincide with Catholic holidays, Camava Fiesta de Corpus Christl, and Semana Santa (Holy Week, the week before Easter) are celebrated everywhere but many still show traces of their pagan roots - the Hogueres de San Joan (St. John's Bonfires, celebrated in Alicante) mark the summer solstice. For a complete listing of events, contact the National Tourist Office of Spain.
A word of caution to those planning to hurl themselves into the merriment at one of Spain's frothiest celebrations: Crowds are very much a part of most festivals, so be prepared for crowded hotels, crowded restaurants, crowded streets, and crowded auditoriums. Advance planning will mitigate much of the discomfort so reserve rooms ahead of time but it's still necessary to be prepared mentally for being jostled, for waiting in line, and more for a can of warm cola all part and parcel of festival going.
For details on the most important festivals in Spain's major cities, including Pamplona's Fiesta de San Fermin; Semana Santa and Feria de Abril in Seville; Valencia's Les Falles de Sant Josep (Feast of St. Joseph celebration); and the Festa do ApostoL (Feast of St. James the Apostle) in Santiago de Compostela, visit the tourist office in Spain.
The Mystery of Elche Alicante Spain
The residents of Elche have been staging this religious dramaa celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin for more than six centuries, making it the world's longest. running play. Performances take place in the 17th century Iglesia de Santa Marfa (Church of St. Mary). While the songs feature an ancient dialect akin to Catalan, the action is actually fairly easy to follow, especially with the added benefit of breathtaking special effects (the descent of the angels from the church's lofty blue dome is a definite emotional highlight), Admission is free though competition for seats is keen.
The El Rocio Pilgrimage Spain
Pilgrims pour through the fields and olive groves of Andalusia in a slow stream of flower-festooned horses and beribboned oxen, converging on the rural sanctuary of EI Rocio, 40 miles (64 km) from Seville.
As in the grand finale of a Broadway musical, the white covered wagons and little surreys with a fringe on top trundle westward, flanked by extras in wide-brimmed hats and brightly colored, flouncy skirts, dancing to the music of flutes and tambourines. The festival mixes equal parts of fervor and fun. Pilgrims march silently at night over the candlelit marshes, then break out into foot-stomping, finger-snapping seguidillas. The climax comes with the parading of the statue of the Virgen del Rocio, hoisted on the shoulders of the faithful in a brilliant scene painted in sun, sweat, and tears.
The Horse Fair Jerez de la Frontera Andalusia
Jerez is famous for sherry and horses, and even has a museum devoted to both, but during May's Feria de Caballo, the steeds steal the show. Straightbacked riders in felt hats and embroidered uniforms canter through the streets, and carriage drivers guide harnessed teams through the myriad maneuvers of dressage.
All around the city, horses jump, trot, whinny, rear, gallop, spar with bulls, or simply stand still to be admired. The preening white Cartujanos with cottony manes are the graceful stars, descended from the horses the Moors rode during their conquest of Spain, and bred through the centuries in Andalusia. The fair is still faithful to its 13th-century origins as a livestock market; you may have come for the costumes, parades, and bullfights that are part of any Spanish festival, but if in a Walter Mitty life you ever cast yourself as a cowboy, or if you have a weakness for gambling, you just might ride away on your own, newly purchased, horse.
Santa Cruz Carnival Tenerife Canary Islands
Rooted in an ancient pagan rite, and mixed with the apocalyptic Catholic bingeing before the severity of Lent, this carnival has the flavor of a Spanish Halloween. It is celebrated for 12 days in February throughout Spain, but nowhere more extravagantly than on the island of Tenerife, where tradition melds with a Greenwich Village sense of fashion to produce wild parades and costumes that would have made Liberace look staid.
It is an orgy of purple make up, leopardskin leotards, sequined hats,
masks, feathers, capes, and wigs. Ornate carts function as mobile bandstands, stages, and puppet theaters, and the air is filled with strums and songs and wheezing clarinets.
Semana Santa in Castile La Mancha
This celebration froths over the sides of its cliff, leaving a frozen dribble of houses hanging in the gorge above the Rio Huecar (Huecar River). During Semana Santa (Holy Week), which leads up to Domingo de La Resurreccion (Easter Sunday), trumpets echo between the sheer, rock walls eerie calls from the Middle Ages to the modern world below. Above, austere processions, silent except for the solemn fanfares, wind slowly through the narrow alleys. Penitents carry sculpted and painted scenes from the Passion story, and members of religious brotherhoods (cofradas) march together in the forbidding robes and pointed hoods of the Spanish Inquisition.
A rowdy procession of Los borrachos (the drunkards), accompanied by drum rolls, is well attended by the local youth. Each evening, in a new auditorium built into the cliff, orchestras and choirs from all over Europe perform recitals of religious music ranging from somber motets to Wagner's mystical Tannhiiuser. Every year, a new work commissioned for the festival is played here for the first time.
The festivals provide a chance for young Spanish men to show off their skillsand the original machismoin climbing poles, wrestling bulls, or standing on each other's shoulders to form Catalonia's six-story castellers, or human towers. Each festival bears the trademark of its town, like the stomp, strum, clap, and yodel of Granada's Festival IntemacionaL de Musica y Danza (International Festival of Music and Dance) or the flowers and frills of Seville's Feria de Abril (April Fair).
Most festivals coincide with Catholic holidays, Camava Fiesta de Corpus Christl, and Semana Santa (Holy Week, the week before Easter) are celebrated everywhere but many still show traces of their pagan roots - the Hogueres de San Joan (St. John's Bonfires, celebrated in Alicante) mark the summer solstice. For a complete listing of events, contact the National Tourist Office of Spain.
A word of caution to those planning to hurl themselves into the merriment at one of Spain's frothiest celebrations: Crowds are very much a part of most festivals, so be prepared for crowded hotels, crowded restaurants, crowded streets, and crowded auditoriums. Advance planning will mitigate much of the discomfort so reserve rooms ahead of time but it's still necessary to be prepared mentally for being jostled, for waiting in line, and more for a can of warm cola all part and parcel of festival going.
For details on the most important festivals in Spain's major cities, including Pamplona's Fiesta de San Fermin; Semana Santa and Feria de Abril in Seville; Valencia's Les Falles de Sant Josep (Feast of St. Joseph celebration); and the Festa do ApostoL (Feast of St. James the Apostle) in Santiago de Compostela, visit the tourist office in Spain.
The Mystery of Elche Alicante Spain
The residents of Elche have been staging this religious dramaa celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin for more than six centuries, making it the world's longest. running play. Performances take place in the 17th century Iglesia de Santa Marfa (Church of St. Mary). While the songs feature an ancient dialect akin to Catalan, the action is actually fairly easy to follow, especially with the added benefit of breathtaking special effects (the descent of the angels from the church's lofty blue dome is a definite emotional highlight), Admission is free though competition for seats is keen.
The El Rocio Pilgrimage Spain
Pilgrims pour through the fields and olive groves of Andalusia in a slow stream of flower-festooned horses and beribboned oxen, converging on the rural sanctuary of EI Rocio, 40 miles (64 km) from Seville.
As in the grand finale of a Broadway musical, the white covered wagons and little surreys with a fringe on top trundle westward, flanked by extras in wide-brimmed hats and brightly colored, flouncy skirts, dancing to the music of flutes and tambourines. The festival mixes equal parts of fervor and fun. Pilgrims march silently at night over the candlelit marshes, then break out into foot-stomping, finger-snapping seguidillas. The climax comes with the parading of the statue of the Virgen del Rocio, hoisted on the shoulders of the faithful in a brilliant scene painted in sun, sweat, and tears.
The Horse Fair Jerez de la Frontera Andalusia
Jerez is famous for sherry and horses, and even has a museum devoted to both, but during May's Feria de Caballo, the steeds steal the show. Straightbacked riders in felt hats and embroidered uniforms canter through the streets, and carriage drivers guide harnessed teams through the myriad maneuvers of dressage.
All around the city, horses jump, trot, whinny, rear, gallop, spar with bulls, or simply stand still to be admired. The preening white Cartujanos with cottony manes are the graceful stars, descended from the horses the Moors rode during their conquest of Spain, and bred through the centuries in Andalusia. The fair is still faithful to its 13th-century origins as a livestock market; you may have come for the costumes, parades, and bullfights that are part of any Spanish festival, but if in a Walter Mitty life you ever cast yourself as a cowboy, or if you have a weakness for gambling, you just might ride away on your own, newly purchased, horse.
Santa Cruz Carnival Tenerife Canary Islands
Rooted in an ancient pagan rite, and mixed with the apocalyptic Catholic bingeing before the severity of Lent, this carnival has the flavor of a Spanish Halloween. It is celebrated for 12 days in February throughout Spain, but nowhere more extravagantly than on the island of Tenerife, where tradition melds with a Greenwich Village sense of fashion to produce wild parades and costumes that would have made Liberace look staid.
It is an orgy of purple make up, leopardskin leotards, sequined hats,
masks, feathers, capes, and wigs. Ornate carts function as mobile bandstands, stages, and puppet theaters, and the air is filled with strums and songs and wheezing clarinets.
Semana Santa in Castile La Mancha
This celebration froths over the sides of its cliff, leaving a frozen dribble of houses hanging in the gorge above the Rio Huecar (Huecar River). During Semana Santa (Holy Week), which leads up to Domingo de La Resurreccion (Easter Sunday), trumpets echo between the sheer, rock walls eerie calls from the Middle Ages to the modern world below. Above, austere processions, silent except for the solemn fanfares, wind slowly through the narrow alleys. Penitents carry sculpted and painted scenes from the Passion story, and members of religious brotherhoods (cofradas) march together in the forbidding robes and pointed hoods of the Spanish Inquisition.
A rowdy procession of Los borrachos (the drunkards), accompanied by drum rolls, is well attended by the local youth. Each evening, in a new auditorium built into the cliff, orchestras and choirs from all over Europe perform recitals of religious music ranging from somber motets to Wagner's mystical Tannhiiuser. Every year, a new work commissioned for the festival is played here for the first time.
Sacred Spain
All over Spain, every invasion, migration, and wave of conversion left its signature in stone, much of which has been all but erased by time and the furor of the Reconquest. As generations of Catholics poked at the hegemony of the Moors, finally pushing them back into North Africa in 1492, they destroyed mosques and erected huge cathedrals in their place. And despite the recently named calles de la juderfa (streets of the old Jewish quarter) that crop up in medieval neighborhoods, the statues of Maimonides, and the Star of David pendants for sale in trinket stores, not many traces remain of the thousands of Jews who, until their expulsion or forcible conversion that began in 1492, lived in Spain for centuries alongside Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Berbers, Arabs, and Christians.
All over Spain, every invasion, migration, and wave of conversion left its signature in stone, much of which has been all but erased by time and the furor of the Reconquest. As generations of Catholics poked at the hegemony of the Moors, finally pushing them back into North Africa in 1492, they destroyed mosques and erected huge cathedrals in their place. And despite the recently named calles de la juderfa (streets of the old Jewish quarter) that crop up in medieval neighborhoods, the statues of Maimonides, and the Star of David pendants for sale in trinket stores, not many traces remain of the thousands of Jews who, until their expulsion or forcible conversion that began in 1492, lived in Spain for centuries alongside Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Berbers, Arabs, and Christians.
