Basque Country fiestas - Basque Country enterteinments
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Basque Country Information: FIESTAS AND TRADITIONS - From fiesta to fiesta all year around |
 DRUMS BY THE THOUSAND The San Sebastian Day celebrations in the city of the same name last for 24 hours, from midnight on the 19th January until midnight on the 20th, when the city flag is hoisted and lowered respectively. During this time, tens of drum and barrel beating companies dressed in elegant uniforms dating from Napoleonic times or dressed as chefs, march through even the smallest streets of San Sebastian playing a number of melodies specially composed for the occasion by Raimundo Sarriegui. At 12 o'clock on the 20th the kids take to the streets. Over 5,000 youngsters participate with delightfully serious faces in the children's drum parade. 
IN FULL FANCY DRESS Although the Carnival, previously announced by the Caldereros procession (in memory of Hungarian gypsies) in Donostia-San Sebastian, is celebrated in all three capitals, the real fun is to be had in other places, like Tolosa, with its well-deserved reputation for high jinx and revelry. Of long parodic tradition, this event succeeded in surviving the prohibition declared by Franco thanks to being renamed Fiestas de Prima vera (Spring Fiestas). Zalduondo, Salcedo, Campezo/Kanpezu and Salvatierra/Agurain in Alava, or Mundaka and Markina-Xemein, in Bizkaia, all live their fiesta de las mascaras with similar intensity. The star of the Markina Carnival is a bear. 
DANCING ON A CHEST Eight sailors carry a wooden chest or kutxa on their shoulders while a dantzari bedecked with top hat dances upon it. This peculiar event, known as the kaxarranka, and started by the fishermen's guild, takes place in Lekeitio every 29th June, on Saint Peter's Day. This event is enthusiastically celebrated in the Basque Country, as is Saint John's Day (24th June) when the night becomes alight with the flames of the purifying bonfires. A SOO-YEAR OLD TRADITION The Corpus Christi fiesta in June is celebrated by means of a splendid procession in Ofiati (Gipuzkoa), during which the ancient Korpus Dantzak dances are performed. The members of the Brotherhood of the Apostolado who participate in the procession wear spectacular masks representing Christ, San Miguel and the apostles. MARIJAIA AND CELEDON Despite the fact that there is no proven relationship betWeen these two relatively recent characters, Marijaia and Celedon nevertheless share a popularity which has made them into the symbols of the respective patron saint's festivities in Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Celedon, wearing a tUnic and holding an umbrella above his head, descends each 4th August into the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca to open the fiestas held in his honour in Vitoria Gasteiz. The enormous Marijaia, with her arms held up high, presides over the Aste Nagusia or Big Week celebrations in Bilbao, which bring the capital to life during the seven days following the 15th August. Taking place somewhere betWeen the other two, Donostia-San Sebastian rounds off a fiesta-packed month of August in the three Basque capitals with its Semana grande. The fiestas ofVitoria-Gasteiz and Bilbao are far livelier than that of San Sebastian, thus making the latter ideal for the more relaxed. All three have a firework competition, open-air festivities and a number of bull-fighting events, although these are more popular in Bilbao. |
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