san fermin | Spain Uncovered

How many fiestas?

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.

Fiesta fun during San Fermín

Hopefully I whetted your appetites in my previous post, so I thought I would do a quick update today on yesterday’s fiesta fun.

Our friend Jaqui invited a few of us to join her and her daughter Melissa for menú del día in Restaurante Monasterio. For those of you not in the know, the Spanish fixed price menú del día is a wonderful invention, started in 1965 under the Franco régime to guarantee workers a good cheap meal at lunchtime. The cost of our lunch was 9€ per head, with so many starters, mains and desserts to choose from that we had to ask our patient waiter to repeat the choices a couple of times.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 010 — Waiting for our main courses to arrive

We shared a generous salad to begin with, and then the waiter kindly brought fussy old me a tapa of ensalada marisco as I didn’t like any of the starters. In my defence, my choice was slightly limited by the fact that I don’t eat any meat! The starters included salmorejo (similar to gazpacho), consomé with pelotas (meatballs) and arroz tres delicias, which looked like vegetable rice however, as I suspected, some ham had been added. Main courses included sardines, boquerones, chicken, meat kebabs and escalopes – I can’t remember all the choices, just the dishes our group selected. We begged for a break before we ordered desserts, as by this stage we were all feeling pretty full! I had a yummy tiramisu (I received some envious looks from my fellow diners) and other homemade desserts included tarta de queso, flan and natillas. We had a couple of bottles of good Jumilla wine to accompany our meal, and coffee to finish.

John and I were offered a lift home but declined, as we needed to walk off some of our huge lunch. Just to remind you, the menu was 9€ each: amazing value!

We also walked into town that evening, to meet up with Jaqui and Melissa again, plus other friends. The meeting point was Bar La Casa, because we knew that Cristina was due to play a starring role in the evening’s events, as she is one of the Reinas for 2011. When we arrived Cristina was working hard serving us and other customers, dressed in her everyday clothes, but she assured us that she would be changing later on.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 012 — Cristina wearing her sash

After some tapas and red wine, and once a totally transformed Cristina had emerged, we all wandered across the road to join in the festivities. The plaza was already crowded and the atmosphere was buzzing, as families watched their children dancing on the large stage. In between the dance performances, the Fiesta Reinas were being crowned and presented with bouquets. We all cheered loudly when Cristina received her award, calling out “Guapa!” There were also bursts of fireworks in between performances, as I predicted. When we left just after midnight it was obvious that many of the revellers would be partying for a long time, however we had two more late nights ahead of us, so decided it would be wise to pace ourselves.

Friends enjoying San Fermín 020 — Fireworks for San Fermín

San Fermín: a load of bull?

Most people associate the Fiesta of San Fermín with Pamplona and bull-running in July, however I decided to do a bit of investigation into the connection between bulls and “Saint Firmin” (as he is also known), in the interests of journalistic accuracy. After my research, I was even more confused than before.

Apparently San Fermín’s feast day is actually on September 25th and not July 6th. The connection with bulls seems a bit tenuous too: there is one story that Saint Fermín died being dragged through the streets by bulls, although other sources suggest that it was a different saint. However he was definitely born in Pamplona, which I am sure is enough of a connection to justify the annual celebrations both there and throughout Spain.

Jumillanos love a good party, so the neighbours in the Barrio of San Fermín will be celebrating their saint’s day (in July) with great enthusiasm over the next few days. Fortunately there won’t be any bulls in the neighbourhood, so John and I plan to go along tonight with some friends to join in the fiesta fun.

I have to say that I have never been to a bull-fight and I don’t intend going to one. I just accept that it is one of the few Spanish traditions that I can’t agree with, though I don’t think it is my place to tell them so, especially since hunting was allowed in the UK until recent years. However I am pleased to report that a growing number of Spaniards are campaigning against all forms of cruelty to animals, and there is now an Antitaurino group here in Jumilla, which my facebook friend Irene from 4 Patas kindly signed me up for!

The programme for this year’s Fiestas de San Fermín includes several processions, a special mass, a Tortilla Española competition, dance displays, children’s games, a concert by a Pop Rock group and, to close the festivities, a concert by the talented Flamenco group Al Golpe.

During our first couple of years in Jumilla we watched the children playing at bull-fighting during the fiesta, but it doesn’t seem to be on the agenda this year, which we think is a good thing. Although I must admit that the children were so cute that I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos. I hope nobody minds if I post one here:

San Fermin Infantil Corrida 017 — Children taking part in the Fiestas de San Fermin

Tonight we are going to watch the Coronation of the Fiesta Queens. We aren’t sure exactly what is involved, but our lovely friend Cristina from Bar La Casa is one of the Reinas, so we are going along to support her. There will be a dance display too by the Academia Aurora González, who so impressed us with their performance in Teatro Vico, so we know it will be an enjoyable evening. We suspect that a few loud fireworks might be lit tonight as well, although nothing has been advertised: after all a fiesta isn’t a fiesta in Spain without one or two deafening blasts!