Spanish Festivals, Flamenco
and Fiestas
Return
to Travel Articles
 From
the title alone you should have guessed this article is about Spain and
its many customs. Spain is a very proud country, and they celebrate
their history and customs in style. Get over to Spain so you can
get your festival mood on the go.
A well known festival The
Tomatina (Tomato Fight), must be the worlds' biggest food-fight – every
year 30,000 people take over the Spanish town of Bunol to hurl and lob
more than 250,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other. The festival takes
place on the last Wednesday of August and is basically an all out town-wide
tomato fight. The tradition started in 1945 when a fight broke out among
two members of a carnival crowd. A vegetable stall was nearby and every
started throwing tomatoes. Exactly one year later, people met at the square,
but this time with their own haul of tomatoes, and of course another food-fight
prevailed, but was eventually broken up by police.
 Flamenco
is another Spanish art known worldwide. Its around 200 years old and is
from Southern Spain and is individualistic, yet structured. Song, dance
and guitar are blended into passionate and romantic rhythms which are often
spontaneous. Flamenco will have any themes, from politics, to love, to
history, to humour. However, the tragic lyrics and tone of flamenco reflect
the sufferings of the gypsy people whom the genre originated from.
Flamenco exists in three
forms: Cante, the song, Baile, the dance, and Guitarra, guitar playing
and strumming. The singers' role is important with the guitar playing an
accompaniment. The solo guitar flamenco has developed into a separate art
form and is fused with jazz, blues and even pop. The dance side has extremely
complex patterns of rhythm and footwork with the upper body emphasizing
grace and posture, translating passion and romance, lust and hate.
 In
the nations capital, the fiesta celebrations of New Year are spectacular
– thousands of people flock together at Puerta del Sol, Madrid. In rhythm
with the beats of the big clock at midnight, everyone attempts to eat twelve
grapes. It should bring good luck for the coming year, and people who are
not there, watch the televised event on TV. After midnight, the entire
city becomes the scenery of a great fiesta.
May in Madrid also sees Spain's
most famous tradition, bullfighting, a sport visitors often ignore but
the Spanish adore.
Top
Return
to Travel Articles - Home page
|
