Which Fiesta?

Spain is an amazing country with an amazing cultural heritage. One of the most visual manifestations of this culture is the fiesta.

 

The word fiesta has the same origins as the English words festival and feast, traditional religious celebrations which usually evolove around things which don't happen every day, for example music and dancing and many years ago, feasting. Once upon a time the celebration of a Saint may have been a good enough excuse to slaughter and spit roast a pig, to make a special cake or get the family together for a big feast. These days the origins tend to get watered down in the past and the feasting part might be reserved to a few over priced hotdogs.

 

In the UK the Christian Saint Stephen has been nudged out of the limelight for a day of boxing and Easter isn't much more than a big hunt for Easter eggs. Saint Christmas seems to be the new patron Saint of Retailers and bank holidays seem to be dominated by the mowing of lawns and TV ratings battles. Yes, without a doubt, remove TV and pubs and the British don't  shine at all when it comes to celebrating festivals and national holidays. Try to set a few fireworks off to celebrate the New Year and you'll be up for an ASBO before you know it.

 

Hop on a plane to Spain and all of that changes.

 

When there is a fiesta in Spain nothing else matters. Whether it's a small town celebration or a big city month long event, all the stops get pulled out and the red tape gets shredded for buntings. Roads get cut, sound systems get set up, alcohol gets sold on the streets, pyrotecnics get primed and the health and safety officers get dressed up in fancy dress and leave their clip boards at home. And the best of it is most of it's free.

 

This website is written to give you the inside story on these Spanish fiestas, not just dates and places but reviews and stories from our visits. By reconstructing events with the help of police reports, drunken text messages and finding ourselves tagged in other people's Facebook photos we aim to let you know what these fiestas are all about. There are so many of them in fact you could probably visit at any time of year and just be a short train ride away from something being celebrated.

 

And for those who live in Spain what better way to spend a weekend that visiting new towns and villages just when they're throwing a party.

 

So have a click around, check out our fiesta listings and make sure you give something back by leaving a posting about your fiesta experience.

 

Hasta pronto!