Fiestas 2013

Our town has been celebrating  their Fiestas 2013 in honor of "the Virgen Navalazarza" for the last two weeks starting at the end of August and ends the 17th of September.  The main events were the last weekend of the Fiestas which included the bull fights.  The last Friday and Monday of the Fiestas many people in the town take work off, the schools close down and most of the stores are closed.

Swimming Races Friday 6 of September

The Fiestas include all kinds of competitions.  Morgan entered the swimming race and placed 2nd in his age group.  After the race we realized everyone that entered was awarded a shirt, medal and bag of candy so I think next year a few more of our kids will be entering. 

Parade of Giants and Fatheads September 10th

We heard a band playing from our home and ran around the corner to see what it was and we found this parade. This is a traditional Spanish parade that is lead by the town's Virgin Statue,  a giant King and Queen,  a band and lots of other fun characters.  It is more like a procession than our type of a parade because people don't sit and watch from the sides but they instead become part of it. 

Our kids wondered if it was the town's Halloween since most of the kids were dressed up.   They do have a costume contest at the end but there is no candy, not even during the parade. :(  

Concurso de Recortes September 13

Here we are inside our stadium waiting for  the "recortadores" who are a bunch of young guys that play with a bull by running from it, dodging it and diving, or flipping over it.  Apparently they get points for how close they get etc. and then the top 4 of 12 or so have a final round at the end.  This show did not start til nearly 10:30 at night which we hoped would help the kids stay awake for the midnight fireworks.



 One of the guys flipping over the bull.



This is our friend Paul, "uncle Pablo" who is temporarily staying in Madrid for 11 weeks for work.  He will be living here for 11 weeks twice a year for a couple of years.   We met Paul and his family our first week here at church and their first time,  unfortunately his family didn't come with him this time.    Our kids love him like an uncle since he plays games with them and gives them treats such as American root beer!

 

 

After each 15 minute round the 3-4 team of guys would kneel down facing the bull in honor of him!  Of course in a real bullfight it ends quite differently. 

 



The kids made these super cute clay bulls when we first moved here after we told them about bullfighting.    In case anyone did not know, in bullfights "Corrida de Toros", they repeatedly stab the bulls to weaken them and then eventually kill them. They had 2 consecutive nights of these during our fiestas which killed a total of 12 bulls.  When we explained what a bull fight is to the kids, Kamree said, "I wouldn't kill the bull I would just give em (the bull) the cape."



 

Midnight Fireworks

Not sure these fireworks were worth keeping the kids up so late.  They have two firework shows planned during the fiestas this one on Friday night at midnight and the other is scheduled to close the Fiestas on Tuesday night at midnight which seems strange since everyone is back to work and the kids are back in school. 

I know this is out of focus but I think it clearly shows that there was a very large mass of people we had to follow down the street to get home after the fireworks.  They had scheduled a rock band for 3am just before the 3:30-7:00am disco/dance so I doubt anyone besides us was in a hurry.  We thought this would be the only loud night of the weekend, but it was 3 in a row!!! 

 

"Encierro" Bull Run Saturday 14

 

 Here we are, again with Paul, waiting for the bull run to begin.  By the time the running started there were many more people around us and we felt the constant risk of losing our front row seats.   Besides watching out for the bulls charging the fence we had to watch out for the runners jumping on the fence. The most exciting part of the run was when a bull turned and charged this fence tearing off a large piece of wood with his horn just below my feet.    

 

 

Each run starts with 3 lead bulls "guides" that lead the aggressive, usually black bull to the bull stadium. 

 

 

This is short video of a bull that fell just as it passed us.  The total run distance is not very long so we can nearly see both the beginning and the end from where we were sitting.  They allow just one bull at a time behind the guides and then everyone waits about 5 minutes until they repeat it by sending the guides back to the beginning for the next round with up to 8 bulls.  Pamplona and other larger cities send the bulls all at the same time.  By the end, the poor guides are very tired of it and become very stubborn.

 

When the thrill-seeking runners still want more, they follow the bulls into the stadium.   We were bored after a few minutes and left.  

Mason, Kaiya and Kamree (that is her swimsuit, not underwear in case you were wondering)



Also included in the fiestas are a carnival with expensive rides, and a street market with booths of toys, clothes, food etc.