Any excuse for a party...

Thursday August 3, 2006

The Spanish love for partying is so famous that their word for it has passed into English - 'fiesta'. Many festivals in Spain have religious or historical significance and have been celebrated in the same way for hundreds of years. Other festivals evolve out of some of the least likely events. While a street brawl outside a vegetable stall would result in prosecution for criminal damage in most of the world, in Spain they turned such a disturbing of the peace into the annual Tomatina Tomato Fight.

In 1994, the tiny village of Bérchules, in the Alpujarras mountain range near Granada, had a powercut on New Year's Eve which resulted in the cancellation of all festivities. The townfolk's response - to celebrate New Year's Eve in August. The rescheduled event was so popular that the town has repeated it every year since.

This year the Noche Vieja en Agosto falls on Saturday, August 5. I shall be there taking photos; I'll post them shortly after the event on this site. If anyone is in the Granada area on Saturday, come along, but don't forget to bring your 12 grapes. Another 'tradition' with less-than-sacred beginnings (it was started by some farmers when they had an excess of grapes left after the wine-making season was over), the Spanish eat a grape for every one of the twelve chimes at midnight. They have it to a fine art, eating one a second without ever biting into a seed. I'm less skilled at this - I really wish Spain would discover seedless grapes some time soon.

Other Spanish Festival Links