The Spanish Experience
When somebody mentions Spain, you immediately and inevitably think of sun, beaches, red wine and Fiestas. Well in reality, it's pretty much that but what tourists don't always realise is however much of an excuse a fiesta is to get drunk, they are all steeped in tradition, with most of them being named after different Saints.
So far this year I have been to four fiestas and all of them have been pretty great. Annually on the 23rd June across the whole of Spain, they celebrate San Juan. This fiesta can vary in size depending on where you are, but all of them include a bonfire on the even of San Juan. The one I went to was fairly small as it was just the neighbourhood one for the kids, but in other towns and cities it can be a lot bigger. I didn't manage to take a picture of video so this is from last years San Juan in Mañaria.
San Pedro - Mungia:
As a family we all went to Mungia's fiesta. We watched the parades and opening ceremony on Friday night, went on Saturday afternoon to the barracks (fair-ground rides), on Sunday to see all the animals, and on Monday again to the barracas. There seemed to be a lot to do in Mungia, different things on each day which I haven't experienced as much (usually I'm only there for the partying at night!) so it was really nice to go and be chilled with the family and seeing all the different things that were on.
San Pedro - Sopela:
With my host mums niece and her cousins I went to the beach town of Sopela for their fiesta dedicated to San Pedro. It was a really great night, there was a lot of drinking and dancing involved and a great time was had all round (I went home to sleep at 8am, so must have been good!).
San Fermin - Pamplona:
One of the most famous of Spain's Fiestas and I finally got a chance to go! From Bilbao I took the bus with 3 other au pairs (one Irish and 2 Finnish girls) and we spent the night there, getting the bus back in the morning. The weather was unbelievably hot, 38 degrees in Pamplona, even when we arriving at 5:30pm! I think throughout the whole night the coolest it got was 22/20 degrees so it was perfect (maybe a little to hot on the bus ride though!).
All in our white and red outfits as tradition!
We spent most of the night wandering around and dancing, but we mainly stayed in the big square dancing! We met loads of other cool people, most of them just wanting to know where we were from and on average taking them 5 times to be able to pronounce my name!
San Fermin has certainly been the biggest this year, almost the craziest as well and I have plans for more fiestas in the coming weeks, including Vitoria's La Virgina Blanca again and I will make sure to go to San Sebastian's fiesta which I missed last year as I really want to party on the beach! One of the things I love so much about the fiestas is the sense of tradition and also community, nearly everyone you meet is so friendly and everyone just wants to have a laugh and have a good time celebrating their customs.
Have you ever been to a Spanish fiesta? I'd love for you to share your experiences with me!
