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TRAINEES > ABOUT SPAIN > Cultural Calendar CULTURAL CALENDARASTE NAGUSTIA, Bilbao – ASTE NAGUSTIA, Donostia – FALLAS, Valencia - FERIA DE ABRIL, Sevilla - FERIA DE MÁLAGA - FESTIVALS - LA PATUM, Berga - SAN FERMINES, Pamplona - SANT JOAN, Ciutadella - SANTA TECLA, Tarragona - TOMATINA, Bunyol. ASTE NAGUSTIA - SEMANA GRANDE, BILBAO: This is held during the third week of August. There are plenty of events to suit all ages and interests, always with a popular and celebratory character. ASTE NAGUSTIA - SEMANA GRANDE, DONOSTIA: This is held during the second week of August. There are plenty of events to suit all ages and interests, always with a popular and celebratory character. FALLAS: Valencian tradition which celebrates Saint Joseph's Day (19 March) in Valencia, Spain. Each neighbourhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous speciality paella, and of course much music and laughter. (from wikipedia) FERIA DE ABRIL, SEVILLA: This fiesta is usually celebrated between 15 April and 15 May, for a week more than a thousand “casetas” or tents installed in the fairground area become the second home of the city’s inhabitants, a place where people come together to have fun and share experiences until the early hours of the morning. FERIA DE MÁLAGA: Malaga’s August Fair has come to the present day as a Grand Summer Fair that is open, cosmopolitan and international, all of this reflecting the character of the capital of the leading tourist area in Europe: the City of Malaga as the key centre of the Costa del Sol and its metropolitan area. FESTIVALS (all around spain) only listed the main ones: LA PATUM, BERGA: midle june. The fiesta of La Patum de Berga in Catalonia has been declared Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. La Patum de Berga has been held annually for centuries during Corpus Christi, and includes street entertainment and shows with different figures typical of these fiestas (giants, “big-heads”, eagles, guitas (dragons), plens (devils)). Fire and dance play a central role. SAN FERMINES, PAMPLONA: 6th to 13th July. “A spectacle capable of getting you out of bed at half past five in the morning for several days in a row". These are the words of Ernest Hemingway on the running of the bulls in San Fermín. During this event, the streets of Pamplona are a 24-hour party, where the bull is the star turn. Night and day, risk and excitement go hand in hand with high spirits and non-stop fun. SANT JOAN, CIUTADELLA, MENORCA: The most important event in the holiday calendar of Ciutadella (mENORCA) is the celebration of the festivity of San Juan, on the 23rd and 24th of June. During those days, horsemen ride their horses around the city centre, among great popular excitement. SANTA TECLA, TARRAGONA: This celebration brings together some of Catalonia’s most emblematic festive traditions. On these days, everyone comes out onto the streets and squares of Tarragona. The central axis of the celebrations is the traditional parade, made up of “big-head” carnival figures and characters who dance to music played on different traditional instruments. One of the most popular events is the Correfoc or fire-running, which is also the closing event of the fiesta. The people run and jump over characters dressed up as devils and dragons, carrying fire. Another much-awaited moment is the spectacular exhibition of castellers or human castles, which reach up to nine tiers high. TOMATINA, BUNYOL: held on the last Wednesday in August. This unusual fiesta brings together crowds of people every year, ready to have a great time of laugher and fun, hurling tomatoes at each other. Participants at this joyful pitched battle have a wonderful time throwing tomatoes at anything that moves. |