How many fiestas are there on any one day? You would expect the answer to be one, however last weekend two different Fiestas were being celebrated in Jumilla: San Fermín, as discussed previously, plus San Cristóbal, the patron saint of all travellers including lorry drivers. The official days are different, but why restrict yourself to one day’s partying when you can have several days of celebrations? Exactly. The Fiestas de San Fermin ran from 7th to 10th July, whereas the Fiesta de San Cristóbal took place on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th July.
As honorary Jumillanos we feel it is our duty to support as many local events as possible, which made the weekend a rather frantic one, especially as we also have a duty to support Música entre Vinos, which meant we were committed to attending the event at Bodega Viña Campanero on Saturday night. Readers, it was hard but we did our best.
Friday night was San Fermín night and Saturday night was Música entre Vinos, so what should we do for Sunday night? It had to be San Fermín again, as we knew Al Golpe was the closing act for this year’s Fiestas, but we needed to show a bit of solidarity with the lorry drivers, especially as one of our dog Lisa’s favourite walks is down the road and past the lorry park.
The local niños come out in force every year to watch the lorries parade through the streets of Jumilla. I suspect that this may have something to do with the packets of corn snacks, sweets and toys that are thrown from the cabs to the waiting children! Even John and I went home on Saturday evening with a bag of goodies after watching (and listening to) the lorries. The tooting of horns seems to be a compulsary component of the parade, and when we covered our ears they just laughed at us.
The parade on Sunday morning was a more musical affair, as this time the statue of San Cristóbal was carried from the lorry park to the Church of San Juan Bautista for a special mass, accompanied by the local band. After watching the morning parade we walked Lisa into town to buy the Sunday papers, then stopped for a cold drink on the way home. We managed to glimpse the Pasacalles for San Fermín as well, where the statue of San Fermín was carried from house to house, accompanied by another local band.
Lisa was not impressed by the loud firewords that were being set off at regular intervals, so we decided to head home with her. Our timing was perfect, as the mass for San Cristóbal had finished, and we saw the procession arrive at the Monumento de los Camioneros with their offering of flowers. The Policia Local were on duty to stop the traffic on the main road and I was beckoned across by a police officer so that I could take photos.
After such a busy morning we decided to relax during the afternoon – after all, we needed to save ourselves for the evening’s events. We had arranged to meet friends in Bar La Casa at 10pm, however we soon discovered that we needed a Plan B as the bar was closed, in spite of Cristina having told us they were going to be open all weekend! Apparently they were all exhausted after a busy weekend (!), but luckily Bar Central, which is usually closed on Sundays, had decided to take advantage of so many potential customers and had opened.
John and I set up a rota to go and check whether Al Golpe had started their performance. We knew what time they were due to start, but this is Spain, moreover it is Jumilla. Although Bar Central is on one side of the plaza where the stage had been set up, there was a children’s fairground in between, and the fairground was very noisy, with a combination of loud music and excited children.
About half an hour later than advertised Al Golpe started their act, so we downed our drinks and finished off our tapas before heading outside. As always their performance was superb and the audience loved it, calling out “Bravo!” and “Guapos!” before chanting “Otras!”, after the final number had been performed. Al Golpe added a couple of extra songs before packing up, so everybody was happy.
It was nearly one in the morning when we left, pausing only to watch the final firework display.