By Mike McDougall
Spaniards seem rarely to need much of a reason for a fiesta orfestival of some sort and you can pretty much guarantee thatwherever you are in Spain there will be some merrymaking goingon somewhere in honour of a patron saint – I’ve decided to lookat some of Spain’s quirkier, slightly less known festivals andenlighten readers as to some of the stranger practices whichtake place at various times around the country.
Our journey begins in the east of the country in the town ofBunol in the Valencia region where a week long festival inhonour of the town’s patron saint, San Luis Bertran, ends in thefamous “Tomatina”, a two hour tomato fight where lorriesbring in 120,000 kg of tomatoes for the locals to pelt eachother with. It’s all a bit of a free-for-all and it’s usuallygirls pitted against boys for two hours of madness from 11am to1pm. Participants can expect to get extremely messy and it’sadvisable to wear something old, and preferably red, if youdon’t want the stains to show up. Despite the “Tomatina”clearly being the highlight, there are many other facets of thefestival 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 aweek in the festivities of “Las Fallas”, another one ofSpain’s more unique festivals. The raucous week of celebrationtakes 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’sfestival. The culmination of the merry-making comes on the“Night of Fire” when all 700 of “Las fallas” areburnt to a cinder turning many of the city’s streets into hugebonfires. Undoubtedly the local fire services busiest evening ofthe year and certainly one not to be missed by visitors to theregion.
Next stop is Catalonia and the town of Valls located about 100kmsouth west of Barcelona, where every year townsfolk gather forthe legendary “Calcotada”. A celebration of food and inparticular the “calcot” (similar to a spring onion) with roadside bbq’s char grilling piles of them for locals to eat.There’s even a hug pot of dipping sauce on hand to spice thingsup a bit. The main event is the eating competition as burlylocal champions from all over the region line up to see how manyonions they can put away in 45 minutes, apparently it’s notuncommon for the victor to eat in excess of 300! After a winnerhas been decided the town decamps to huge local cafeterias wherefor a small fee the “calcots” are served in plentiful numbersalongside grilled meats and washed down with as much red wine asyou can drink. It’s certainly off the beaten track a little bitand for that reason you won’t see many tourists but expect awarm welcome from the locals who will, undoubtedly, be in highspirits.
29th June, the day of San Pedro and we’re deep in Spain’s wineproducing heartland, La Rioja, where for one day every year themedieval town of Haro is host to the famous “Batalla deVino” (literally “Wine Battle”). Apparently the battle’sorigins lie in an ancient dispute with between Haro and itsneighbours. These days the fight is pretty good natured withthousands of gallons of wine being hurled around thebattleground (a hillside overlooking Haro). Like theTomatina, this is going to be a messy one and I’d suggestcoming prepared with some ammunition of your own, the localshave been doing this for years so expect to take a few shotsearly on.
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