encierros y corridas

The bull running and bull fighting is a big part of the party. The running is exciting to see. The bulls run to the plaza de toros where the runners can play with the bull a little more if the running wasn't dangerous enough for them. Sometimes there are people who jump and do flips over the bull. Ambulances are standing by incase someone gets hurt, but they didn't have to use them this year. Many people like the bull fighting here so I decided that I should see it one time. Here they had 6 bulls after the other in one bullfighting session. I left after the first bull. If the torero does a really good job, he gets one ear of the bull. If he does a really, really good job he gets 2 ears. If the performance is excellent, he gets 2 ears and the tail.

coger aguas

There is a custom here, called "coger aguas," which is to put the spanish flag on top of a new house when the roof is finished. This is the building Juan and his cousins are making. There will be 6 apartments when it is finished. After a couple of weeks the flag comes back down.



Question: How do you keep the dogs from peeing on your fence?

Answer: With bottles of water.... does it actually work???

procesion

On Sunday, on the day of the party there is a procesion. A statue of Christ is carried from the church to the chapel and back again. Most of the people get dressed up really nice for this event, some people even wear the traditional dress from El Alamo. After the parade, the tradition is for the babies to take a picture with their parents and the statue. See the picture of Juan's cousin's baby. After this is all finished they have an auction to see who will carry the statue for the next year and there is also a flag and staff to carry. I guess this is pretty important for people here because the auctions went up to 1800 euros!! I couldn't believe it.

!Estamos en Fiestas!

The town party of El Alamo started on the 31st of August and will finish on the 5th. The party is complete with bands, bull running, bull fights, procesions, speeches, drinking, and eating. This year the mayor cut the fiestas short by 2 days, which does not make him very popular by all means. The fiestas wouldn't be complete without the "peñas" this is a group of friends who give themselves a name and they usually have some kind of an outfit. They do things together throughout the year, but the party is one of the most important events for them. Juan has a peña, "esto pa'ti" (check out their site--in my links). To start off the party there is a pregon, which is basically a speech. Everyone gathers in the town square and someone gives the speech from the balcony of the city hall. Usually it is a famous person who does this or someone from a peña (Juan did it before), but this year it was the mayor. Since the party was shortened, Juan's peña protested by giving the speech (the pregon) themselves from a different place, see the picture with the city hall painted on the sheet and check out the coffins they made. So there were two speeches going on at the same time and of course it was very loud and some people didn't like that. Nevertheless the party continued....