RAIN NEARLY SPOILS PARADE
For a while it looked as if the rain would play havoc with Spain's National Day parade in Madrid last Sunday but in the end, it only stopped a few planes from participating in the fly past, as well as the parachutists who traditionally land right in front of the Royal stand. Not so many people turned out either, put off by the glowering clouds. Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy was there, despite the uproar he caused last Saturday when he told the PP leader in Andalucia, Javier Arenas, that he was going to have a really boring time Sunday, watching the march past. He didn't put it quite as mildly as that, however, but used a "c" word that no well-educated Spaniard uses in decent company, least of all when referring to the nation's Armed Forces. In an interview in one of the national papers to mark her first National Day as Defence Minister, Carmé Chacon, pointed out that the armed forces had gone from being very feared to very admired in just one generation. She also defended Rajoy, saying she didn't think what he had said reflected his true feelings about the military.
DONT MISS BIGGEST STREET PARTY IN THE WORLD
The biggest street party in the world - that is, the Malaga feria - starts next Friday, August 15th and the city well not sleep until it ends on August 24th. The fair commemorates the re-conquest of the city by Isabella and Ferdinand in 1487 - any excuse for a fiesta! - and literally starts off with a bang. The impressive firework display can be seen for miles around and the best view is from the Port, or from the comfort of your own home now that Malaga's TV station covers it live. From then on its castanets, flamenco dancing and singing and lashings of sherry all the way in the city's central Larios Street, considered the best place to be by many people. The Feria ground - where the action is at night - is an immense gaudy, raucous fairyland of dazzling lights, deafening music, soaring ferris wheels and careering dodgem cars, an assault on all the senses which can be tiring for older people who don't know their way around the casetas where the locals meet to drink and gossip. Millions of people from the surrounding areas and the rest of Spain visit the fair, although the tourists along the Costa del Sol seem unaware of what is going on just down the road. While every little town in Andalucia has its annual fair, most of them don't come anywhere near to holding a candle to the Sevilla and Malaga fairs. They're similar - but different - and you don't know what the word feria means until you've been to both of them.
BASQUE NATIONALISTS PROTEST STATE OF EXCEPTION
Whole most other people in San Sebastian were getting ready to throw themselves wholeheartedly into celebrating the city's annual feria, some 3,000 radical left-wing nationalists, or abertzale, met at 5.30 pm in the city centre to protest the "state of exception" which they claim the central government in Madrid has declared in the Basque Country. To shouts of "independence", "the only way is the struggle", they also denounced the "the political lynching" of the recently released ETA terrorist, Iñaki de Juana Chaos, who was condemned to 3,000 years in jail for his part in the deaths of 25 people in the mid-1980s. An abertzakle leader told reporters there were many reasons for demanding a political change such as "the torture and violation of human rights of ETA prisoners". The protest ended on the dot of 6.30 pm, when the city authorities officially inaugurated the feria.
FAIR WORKER ELECTROCUTED
A 24-year-old man was electrocuted in Benoján, near Ronda, last Thursday night when he tried to connect his caravan to an electricity post. He had only just arrived in the town to work in the fair to be held there this week. People living nearby, including the town's mayor, Soraya García, rushed to help when they heard him scream as he fell from the post. He was still alive when an ambulance arrived five minutes later but died about an hour later at the Hospital Comarcal in Ronda. The man lived in Ronda and worked at the fairs held in the towns around Ronda in the summer.
CARTAMA TO UNITE ITS TWO FERIAS
Cártama Town Council plans to unify the annual ferias of both the town and the Estación next year in an effort to reduce spending. Mayor José Garrido said the ferias for the Virgen del los Remedios (Cártama town) and San Isidro (Cártama Estación) would be held on the same day but only the nocturnal celebration of the two saints would be affected, with the two towns holding their traditional daytime celebrations separately. He said the budget for the two separate celebrations this year amounted to €800,000, a sum he hopes to reduce next year. The idea will be put to the residents of both towns and their decision will be the final one. A few years ago, the then mayor of Coín tried to do something similar by eliminating one of the town's two yearly ferias, in April and August. All he got was death threats for his pains and the townspeople continue enjoying their twice-yearly do.
DETAILS OF ORANGE DAY ANNOUNCED
Coín's 12th Fiesta de la Naranja will be held on Saturday, May 24th, with different events taking place in the town's three Plazas. Visitors will be able to enjoy local dishes and buy handicrafts in the Plaza Alameda, starting 11 am, while local non-profit-making organisations will hold a fund-raising market in the Plaza de la Villa. The evening events will be held in the Plaza de Pescao.
PARENTS PROTEST FERIA SITE
Marbella's Parents Association is collecting signatures to protest the Town Hall's decision to hold the annual fair on a site near two schools. The Socialist Party has suggested that the promenade and the Avenida del Mar as ideal locations for the fair.
FESTIVAL ON VERGE OF EXTINCTION
It was revealed last week that the Festival de los Patios de Cordoba could be on the verge of extinction. The festival has been held every year in May since 1918 but the associations representing the house owners have warned that the number of patios entering the competition - a prize is given for the one with the most beautiful flowers - is dwindling. There are several reasons for this: some old houses are being closed for reforms while the old people who have kept the tradition alive are beginning to die off and their younger relatives don't want to take on what is in fact the equivalent of a full-time job. Paradoxically, thanks to climate change, the flowers are blooming earlier so the patios will open their doors before the end of April this year. And they will stay open longer for economic reasons. The city council pays the owners a subsidy towards expenses but it is not enough so in order to encourage people to keep on opening up their patios, visitors will now have to pay a small contribution of five euros. Outsiders will also be able to rent the patios for social events during the festival.
TRADITIONAL PARDON GRANTED TO ARGENTINEAN
In a tradition dating back to the 1700s, the El Rico brotherhood in Málaga grants a pardon to a prisoner being held in the city's jail just before Semana Santa every year. This year, the lucky man is a 40-year-old computer technician from Argentina who has already served two years of a six year sentence for drug trafficking. According to the story, in 1765 there was an outbreak of cholera which killed many citizens and that year, because of fear of infection, during Holy Week no men were willing to carry the statue for the El Rico brotherhood. When they heard this, the prisoners in the county jail escaped in order to carry their Christ. All of them returned to jail voluntarily after the procession and the epidemic subsided. For this reason, the King Carlos III ordered that a prisoner should be granted a pardon in order to lead the El Rico procession on the Wednesday of Holy Week, wearing a black mask. Identified only as F.D.T. and wearing the black mask, the Argentinean told a press conference last Friday he was overcome by the pardon and looked forward to telling his family all about it. It's the second time that the El Rico Brotherhood has released a foreigner. Last Friday's cabinet meeting in Madrid approved the pardon along with 14 others who are granted pardons in line with the traditions of other brotherhoods across the country.
GENERALLY FAIR WEATHER FOR EASTER
It's Easter Week once again and it looks as if it won't be raining on too many parades this year. The unseasonable balmy temperatures will continue, according to the National Meteorological Institute, although there may be some showers inland towards the end of the week. However, the weathermen were reluctant to commit themselves as regards the rain because they said predictions for more than three days ahead in the Spring are not very reliable.