Celebrations from Spanish-speaking countries

1. Celebrations in Spanish-speaking
Countries

2. Feria de las Flores: Who, Where & When
• Who: People of Medellín &
tourists from around the
world
• Where: Medellín, Colombia
• When: beginning of
August, week-long

3. Feria de las Flores: Why
• Tribute to Colombia’s flower
industry, the second largest in
the world
• Originally there was only a
flower exposition, a parade of
silleteros, and music and dance.
– Silleteros: people who carry
possessions and people on their
back with a “chair”

4. Feria de las Flores: What
• Parade of silleteros
• Caravan of chivas (trucks)
• Plaza de Flores (center of activity for the
Feria)
• Cabalgata: giant horse parade
• Classic cars parade
• Flowers & Birds Expo
• National Trova Festival (music)
• Fireworks shows

5. Feria de las Flores: Photos

6. Fireball Festival (Bolas de Fuego)
Where? – Nejapa,
El Salvador

7. Bolas de
Fuego
Who: People of Nejapa, El Salvador
What: Fireball fight between two
groups of young men.
When: August 31st

8. Bolas de Fuego
Why: In 1922, a volcano near the
town erupted. People believed
that the volcano was San
Jeronimo fighting the devil to rid
him from the town. The
celebration is now a reenactment
of this fight.

9. Fiesta Tapati: Who, Where & When
• Who: the Rapa Nui
people (native
Polynesians of
Easter Island) &
tourists
• Where: Easter
Island, Chile
• When: first two
weeks of February

10. Fiesta Tapati: Why
• Began in the 1970s
• Goal of maintaining
and promoting the
Rapa Nui culture
among islanders,
especially children

11. Fiesta Tapati: What
• Town as two clans
• Each clan chooses “queen”
• The winner gets the title
of “Queen of the Island”
for that year
• Not a beauty contest,
• Peaceful confrontation
with everyone showing
physical and artistic skills.

12. Fiesta Tapati: What
• There are various competitions including:
– Vaka Tuai: create & sail traditional
Polynesian vessel
– Takona: a body painting competition
– Riu: perform ritual songs that tell epic
stories and legends of the Rapa Nui people.
– Haka Pei: men slide on plantain trunks
(reach speeds of nearly 50 mph)
– Pora: Swimming competition on a reed
float
– Tau’a Rapa Nui: triathlon of three
traditional races: the Vaka Ama (canoeing
in small reed boats), swimming with a Pora,
and the Aka Venga (running with two
bananas clusters carried on a stick upon
their shoulders).

13. Festival del Merengue
• Where? Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

14. Festival del Merengue
• Who? People from the Dominican Republic and
around the world
• When? Late July, early August
• What? Large dance festival beginning with a
parade, people dancing on the streets, the beach
and in bars to famous merengue bands, art and
handicraft exhibits, food fairs and games.
• Why? The merengue originated in the Dominican
Republic and is now a very popular dance
throughout Spanish-speaking countries.

15. Festival del Merengue

16. Festival de San Juan: Who, Where & When
• Who: Paraguayans
• Where: Paraguay
• When: June 23-24 (six
months before
Christmas because
John the Baptist was
said to have been born
six months before
Jesus, also coinciding
with the solstice)

17. Festival de San Juan: Why
• Mix of the Catholic
and the Guaraní
(indigenous)
traditions
– Celebrating Saint John
the Baptist
– Guaraní celebrations
that venerate fire,
lighting one the night
of the 23rd to give
more power to the
sun

18. Festival de San Juan: What
• The Night of the 23rd: Fire
– Jump over bonfires for good luck & to have sins forgiven
– Camba: Boys in masks dance around girls in a circle and
try to grab the girls, while the girls fend them off with
torches
– Tata ári jehasa: Fire-walking on hot coals
– El Juda: Burning of an effigy of Judas Escariot
– El toro candil: someone carries a bull’s skull with the
horns lit on fire and runs through a group of people
– Jumping through a flaming hoop
– Playing soccer with a flaming ball
– Climbing up a greased pole
• The Morning of the 24th
– Christian observation of mass/prayer sessions

19. Festival de San Juan: Photos

20. Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha: Who, Where & When
• Who: 6,000 to 8,000
visitors from around
the country, plus more
than 4,000 horses
• Where: Tacuarembó,
Uruguay
• When: 5 days in March

21. Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha: Why
• Celebrate & teach about the Gaucho heritage and
culture in Uruguay
– the gaucho is a national symbol in Uruguay and
Argentina
– gauchos are nomadic horsemen and cowhands of the
Pampas (grasslands)
• somewhat similar to our concept of cowboys

22. Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha : What
• Parade
• Folk music & dancing
• Competitions of the “Sociedades Criollas”
(social clubs cultivating the old traditions of the
Uruguayan countryside)
– Horsemanship: rodeos with lassoing, “jineteadas”
(bareback riding), “boleadoras” (immobilizing an
animal by throwing a leather cord with stones at
their legs)
– Cooking traditional foods
– Stained glass competition
– Beauty contest to decide “la flor del pago”
– Recreate traditional dwellings (called “fogones”)
from the Colonial Period through to the 1920s

23. Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha: Photos

24. Las Fallas: Who, Where & When
• Who: Valencians & over 2
million visitors
• Where: Valencia, Spain
• When: March 15th – 19th

25. Las Fallas: Why
• Commemorates Saint Joseph (patron saint of
carpenters)
• Evolved from the pagan rituals celebrating the
beginning of spring and the planting season
• Lighting fires to welcome spring, plus burning
and cleansing of winter waste (especially
wood)
• Now the celebration makes satirical jabs at
different aspects of society, especially
politicians and celebrities

26. Las Fallas: What
• Display “ninots” (smaller) and “falles” (larger), huge
cardboard & paper-mache statues
– can take an entire year and thousands upon thousands
of Euros to make
• Bullfights, parades, paella contests, beauty pageants
• Flower offering: flowers brought to a statue of Our
Lady of the Forsaken
• La Cremà: March 18th - 19th
– Mascletà: coordinated fireworks display at 2pm
– ninots & falles set on fire
– one ninot is spared by popular vote
– the largest falla in front of the town hall is burned last at
midnight

27. Las Fallas: Before Photos

28. Las Fallas: After Photos