Festivals are a celebration of the community--a chance to share our identity with each other and the world.
In the USA we don't have a lot of festivals of this kind. Certainly Mardi Gras in New Orleans is one, but most of our festivals celebrate on segment of our community, St. Patrick's Day, Gay Pride Day, Columbus Day, rather than the whole community.
What would a Napa Festival look like--one that was joined and enjoyed by everyone in the community?
Here are a few festivals to consider...
The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona
For millennia, the Spanish have held festivals involving bulls, dancing and wine. Pamplona, a small town in the northern part of Spain hosts the most famous of all these festivals -- La Fiesta De San Fermin -- which is one of the most exciting and exhausting weeks anywhere on earth.
On the 7th of July, from 10.00 in the morning until 2.00 in the afternoon this age-old tradition (it may date from the 13th century),takes place through the streets of the old part of Pamplona.
The city administration marches in all their finery, and accompanied by all kinds of music bands, including the official brass-band - The Pamplonesa. Also in attendance are the Giants, marchers dressed in huge papier-mache heads who entertain the crowds and give a wonderfully surreal atmosphere to the proceedings. All proceed to the Cathedral to collect the "cabildo" or official assemblage of ecclesiastical representatives. From there, the assembly marches to the church of San Lorenzo, where the remains of San Fermin are kept, to carry out the figure of San Fermin. The figure is paraded through the street with all possible pomp and ceremony during some two hours and is then brought back to the church. The city administration returns to the cathedral to separate from the ecclesiastical party and return to the Town Hall. Thus ends the procession for another year.
The most interesting thing about the procession is the pomp and ceremony which accompanies it in the different small acts along the way. There are homages paid to the saint and often impromptu songs are directed at the figure of the saint by people in balconies along the route.
The Giants:
Many Spanish cities and towns have their own Giants. But perhaps there are none better than those of Pamplona. They are four enormous pairs - each pair is a king and queen - and they are about four meters in height. They represent "the four parts of the world" : Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. The current Giants in Pamplona are not very old - they were made in 1860 to substitute even older head that had become run down. So they continue a tradition whose roots have been lost in time past. They are made of a light wooden structure and richly dressed in elegant clothing. The bearer enters from behind and lifts the structure onto his shoulders.
These "Kings and Queens" also have an entourage. There are five "cabezudos" who accompany them, made up of a Mayor, A Councilor, A Grandmother and two Japanese figures. There is also an entourage of six "kilikis" who are there to "protect" the Royalty. These figures have a name, Barbas, Patata, Verrugón, Coleta, Caravinagre and Napoleon. These "kilikis" carry paper-foil rods and their favorite pastime is chasing after any young children who line the route to see the Giants. If the glasses of your daughter or son are broken by one of those kilikis, don´t worry about it. There is a special insurance for these cases. You have to talk to the head of the comparsa and reclaim from the City Council. It seems to be very usual. Any child up to the age of six or seven is their prey and their grim papier-maché faces have given nightmares to many generations of toddlers in Pamplona. (There are some who say that the locals' later distain for the forces of public order originates from this childhood fear of the "kilikis").
To complete the entourage there are six "zaldikos' - half-men, half-horse - who also sometimes take it into their heads to "attack" any innocent young children along the route.
All this entourage is known as the "Comparsa" and they can be seen at various times of the day parading in the streets, surround by young children, parents, grandparents and the populace in general, all dancing to the sound of the "gaita". The Giants are also continually dancing, be it, waltzes, polkas, jotas or whatever, and from their height of four meters its a sight to see.
They say that the Giants are for the children but more than one adult has a lump in his throat when he looks on the Giants during the Fiesta, if only because it brings back memories of a long-lost innocent childhood. There are not many people in Pamplona who haven't got their childhood photo taken with the Giants even if the photo shows them in tears or terrified.
Particularly moving is the final farewell to the Giants on the 14th of July. They are stacked away in storage on that day in a basement of the Bus Station. This sad event takes place between 2.00 and 2.30 in the afternoon and is worth seeing. Thousands of children gather to say goodbye to them for another long year. (They only come out at San Fermin, save some other very special and rare occassion.).
The Encierro
The festival is dedicated to San Fermin and the running of the bulls, made famous by Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. The connection between bulls and San Fermin is a gory one--San Fermin was martyred by being dragged through the streets by bulls.
Running with the bulls, is both dangerous and overrated. The Bulls run a path about a mile long between their corral and the Plaza de Toros. When the first bull leaves the corral, a rocket is launched to warn the runners, and a second one goes off when the last bull leaves the corral. This is to warn the runners if the bulls are in a widely separated group.
The streets are quite full of people--in fact, most people who say that they run with the bulls never actually see a bull close-up. The street is so full that the crowd starts pushing into the Plaza de Toros with the first rocket, and continues to do so for the whole event. Only the daring and the dumb stay on the street long enough to see a bull first hand. Once the bulls enter the Plaza de Toros and are escorted by steers into their pens, cows are let loose into the ring, and the public is allowed to try to fight them. The cows are small, but very aggressive, and the whole thing is a virtual free-for-all.
Women are theoretically not allowed to run, although many do.
Outside the ring, San Fermin is a non-stop weeklong party. Basque three-man bands of fife and drum strut throughout the city, requisitioning wine from anyone who looks at them twice--the bota bag is the vessel of choice, filled with Rioja.
Reservations are impossible to get, rooms impossible to find, and most of the revelers party until they are exhausted and then collapse on the grass in local parks. It makes for quite a scene.
A note about bullfights. They are not fights. They are not sporting events. They are an ancient ritual of death. Don't go to one thinking that it will be fair, charming, or delightful. It may, if you are lucky, be deeply moving and exciting. The bull will die. How the bull dies, and how the bullfighter comports himself while he kills the bull, are the critical factors.
And if you have ever lamented the fact that the poor bull doesn't have a chance then plant your sympathetic self in the street one morning at 8 a.m. and give the bulls the chance they are given to prove their gameness -- you will find that they take every advantage of their opportunity to try and take some humans with them. Because of the compact cobblestone streets of Pamplona, the entire route is wall-to-wall with people participating in the run.
THE "ENCIERRO" or RUNNING OF THE BULLS is the single most characteristic event of the Fiesta of San Fermin. This is the event which has given the Fiesta world-wide fame and which appears on news broadcasts around the world during that special week in July. It is held at eight o'clock each morning from the 7th to the 14th of July inclusive. It consists largely of young men (although it admits all types) who run in front of the bulls to lead them from their pen up and into the bull-ring. It usually lasts from two to three minutes - although if there are complications due to loose bulls it can last much longer.
The length of the run is some 800 metres (about half a mile) and you don’t have to sign up anywhere to take part; you just enter into the run and choose the street where you will run and try to do as best as you can.
On the 15th there is a parody of the run made by some die-hards who refuse to face the fact that the Fiesta is all over and who run in front of the early morning city bus which comes up Santo Domingo street.
The run began to some extent through necessity. In those far-off days there were no such things as trucks. But as the people enjoyed the fun of taking the risks it has been kept up so that nowadays it is a spectacle in which thousands of people take part.
With the first rays of light of the early morning the wooden fencing which lines the route is closed off. Then the revelers are gradually cleared from the streets which line the route by the local police. The street-cleaners then move in to mop up the accumulated rubbish and dirt caused by the night-long revelry.
All spectators must stay behind the double-fencing along the route. Only first-aid teams can be found in the space between the double fencing. One practical reason for this is, that the runners have the space to jump over the fence should they need to. So now that the fencing has been shut in, the only way to enter is at the gateway at the Town Hall or at the gateway of the Plaza del Mercado.
The runners who gather at the bottom of Santo Domingo - the starting line - are crowded together as they sing a homily to the image of San Fermin which is placed in a niche on the wall decorated with the scarves of the peñas. The song goes like this: "A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición" ("We ask San Fermín, as our Patron, to guide us through the Bull Run and give us his blessing.")
A rocket goes off at the moment the bulls are let out into the street. A second rocket goes off to let everyone know that all the bulls are now in the street This is the moment of truth in the Bull-Running : the bulls run like the very devil. It´s impossible to race them or even keep up with them for very long (interesting information for anyone with athletic pretensions). The way to do it is, to start off slowly when the bulls are still a good distance behind, and as they draw nearer start running like the devil, before they get too close. Hang in near them for a short time, as near as you are prepared to risk your skin, and then get out of the way as cleanly as possible. Be careful not to cross the paths of other runners. Look for a gap in the fence to slip through or jump over, or a space against the wall of the street.
As well as the danger inherent in running in front of a bull (it's worth remembering that this is an animal which weights about 600 kilos - some 120 stone - and which has two big rock-hard horns which can cut through practically anything, not to mention possible bruising from just being stepped on, there is also the problem of overcrowding in the run. So you have to be careful not to get bowled over or knocked down by other runners. The crowding is particularly dense at the weekends where the number of visitors to the Fiesta more than doubles.
Each section of the run has its own particular characteristics so that many runners always choose to run the same section: In Santo Domingo the run is very fast and spectacular and risky at the corner of Mercaderes, while in Estafeta it is somewhat slower and clearer. The run into the bull-ring is exciting and colorful.
Once the bulls have gone past the run has finished for you and you feel a special satisfaction and relief that nothing has happened to you. That is, as long as a bull doesn't turn back when it gets separated from the others - something which does happen from time to time and which creates a potentially highly dangerous situation. When you hear a third rocket go off it is to let you know that all the bulls have arrived inside the ring and a fourth and final rocket is sent off when all the bulls have been safely led into their pens.
Between that first rocket and final rocket only a couple of minutes will normally have gone by - but what a couple of minutes!
Well, that's what the running of the bulls is all about. So if you have been up all night, think carefully about what is the best thing for you to do at that decisive moment - to drag your tired body off to bed, or to take the risk of running, or to find a safe place to watch the run from behind the fences.
The mid-afternoon is the calmest time of the festival and finds most people in their rooms (if they have them), or more likely lounging in the park, singing to some impromptu guitar music or comparing stories from the morning. The bullfights are each day at 5:00 during the festival but tickets are often hard to come by and you may have to buy them from one of the many scalpers in front of the arena for prices up to $50. Bargaining is respectable -- team up with some others for a group rate. Be aware that they do kill the bull at the end of the fight.
By the end of the bullfight the town square will have livened up again and every evening the plaza pulsates with activity and displays of local rituals that don't involve bulls, such as Spanish folk dances and live bands and the drinking of more red wine. You will also find discotheques playing all the latest music if you are in search of more contemporary dancing.
The Spanish nurtured these festivals for centuries and it was Hemingway who helped immortalize La Fiesta de San Fermin. However, it is the exhilaration of the festivities that has continued to attract thousands of veterans and newcomers to Pamplona each year.
Feria and Semana Santa in Seville
La Feria de Sevilla began as a cattle trading fair in 1847, and through the years it has evolved into a sexy Spanish round-the-clock spectacle of flamenco, bullfighting and rowdy fun. More than a million bottles of Fino and Manzanilla are consumed each year from huge galvanized tubs filled with ice.
Ground zero for the Feria festivities is the temporary tent city, on the far side of the Rio Guadalquivir, called the Real de la Feria. This rectangular piece of land is about a mile long and 700 yards wide. The tents, called casetas, are made of brightly-striped canvas and decorated with thousands of paper lanterns. While this set-up was originally created for the cattle market, today the casetas are temporary dance halls and each evening you'll find flamenco music and dancing from around 9pm to 6 or 7 the following morning. The women all wear spectacularly bright Gypsy-inspired flamenco dresses, and everyone--young and old--throws back a bottle or two of sherry and gets out on the dance floor.
The casetas are hosted by groups of aristocratic Sevillana families, clubs, trade unions and political parties. Each of the tents has its own atmosphere and traditions. Some are invitation-only affairs, while others are "open" and have commercial bars. So just roam around and find the vibe that works for you.
One of the most notorious and fun casetas is "Er 77," where wine is drawn from a well and poured from buckets, and cots are offered in the back for napping. Another famous tent is "Los Duendes de Sevilla" (The Goblins of Seville) which is named for a painting by Alvarez Quintero. You can also expect a lively time at the casetas erected by Seville's many leftist and anarchist groups.
While you probably will spend most of the night stomping and clapping in the casetas, keep in mind that La Feria has a full program of events during the daytime. You'll want to check out the daily parades of horses and decorated carriages that wind their way through the city and fairground. This equestrian display is accompanied by strolling singers who play traditional Sevillana ballads on their guitars. Many participants in these parades are members of Seville's aristocracy, and they are exquisitely outfitted in the unique wide-brimmed "bolero" hats and short-cropped jackets that are closely associated with Andalusia. In Andalucia, only the upper classes have horses, and this is where they get to show off their horses and their status.
In the afternoons, you can catch a glimpse of another Spanish staple--the bullfight. La Feria attracts top-notch matadors from all over Spain and the bullfights at La Feria are considered to be the best of the season. The action takes place at 5:30pm each afternoon at the imposing Moorish-inspired Plaza de Toros de Maestranza, which is known to locals as "the Cathedral" and is considered one of the most beautiful bullrings in the country. Tickets can be purchased at the bullring, and while they can be quite expensive, this is a chance to see the highest expression of this Spanish art form.
You'll find the atmosphere at La Feria typically Andalusian--relaxed yet intense. Sevillians are outgoing and it will be easy to strike up a conversation and make new friends. But don't get too close--there's a love-'em-and-leave-'em history here. Keep in mind that the legendary Don Juan started his seductive trek across Europe in Seville, and Prosper Merimee's fickle Carmen was based on a worker in Seville's old tobacco factory.
Festival de Sao Joao in Oporto
A couple of millenia ago, the ancestors of the flat-bottomed Barcos Rabelos were used by the Romans to transport barrel-loads of new wine from the upper Douro, which was then wild and undammed, 241 kilometres downriver to the coast. This included navigating rapids and gorges, with the occasional loss of cargo or crew. In the 17th century, the barcos came to the fore when British traders, cut off from their suppliers of Bordeaux by frequent wars with France, began to import the full-flavored, robust wines of Portugal.
Theoretically, the Portugese wines didn't travel well so the British traders added brandy to 'fortify' them against the rigors of their Atlantic sea voyage. Before long, pure grape spirit was added during fermentation and Port, as we know and enjoy it today, was born: it is still produced by a close-knit group of Anglo-Portuguese companies.
For a couple of centuries up to 1964, the barcos were the chief means of transporting Port from the Douro valley to the Port shippers' lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Oporto, Portugal's second largest city, after which the world famous fortified wine is named.
Then, with the growth of cheaper, alternative transport, the ancient barcos were abandoned and almost forgotten. In 1983, this all changed when the first Barco Rabelo Regatta took place and more boats were built, all according to the strict rules established by the Confraria do Vinho do Porto, which ensures that the correct length of a traditional barco rabelo is 11 metres on a beam of around 2,160 metres.
Little in their design or construction has changed since these sturdy craft, which are still all built of pine in a traditional shipyard on the side of the Douro river, served imperial Rome in Iberia. Nobody knows for sure but it is believed that the barcos rabelos was based on Nordic or Mediterranean craft, adapted to the Douro's rapids and sandbanks.
The annual Barco Rabelo race rapidly grew in popularity and has since been included as part of the annual festival of Sao Joao (Feast of St John, Oporto's patron saint) on 24 June. A spectacular riverside firework display lights up the sky at midnight from Oporto's magnificent Ponte de Dom Luis while the town goes wild and revellers wander around bashing each other over the head with squeaky plastic hammers. The hammers symbolize the traditional leeks, which were used for centuries in this festival. A great deal of wine is consumed--but despite the more famous Port wines of the region, most of what is consumed during the festival of Sao Joao is Vinho Verde.
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