Fiestas del Pilar

Once upon a time in Spain, Mary (the virgin) manifested herself in the city of Zaragoza on a column (un pilar). To celebrate this appearance, there's a holiday called Los Pilares on October 12, which happened on a Tuesday this year, which resulted in a puente. A puente means that if there's a holiday on a Tuesday or Wednesday, there is no work or school on the days leading up to it, so that there is a long weekend. Because we're in Spain, a fiesta is not a fiesta unless it's stretched out for as long as possible. All sorts of fun stuff takes place in the days leading up to El Día del Pilar. For us, the parties began on Friday night, when a whole medieval market got erected in the main streets of the city center in Soria.



It rained a bit, but that didn't stop the entire freaking town from showing up at the market. There were hoards of people perusing the stands, which featured a variety of products, such as jewelry, beauty products, and home decor items, as well as an incredible assortment of cheeses, salamis, cakes, soft chewy candies, potatoes, crepes, mojitos... there was live music and the vendors were all dressed up. Great, grrrreat atmosphere. I bought a pair of earings, a hairpin, and food. The food was glorious.

The next day, I was off to Zaragoza with Simon, Erin, and Erin's awesome sister Jessica (who has been spoiling us with her incredible Spanish-meal-making skillz), who is currently living in Spain to be with her boyfriend Ivan. Ivan's family generously let us stay in their (uninhabited) house, which is in the very center of Zaragoza. The house was ancient and most definitely haunted. Simon set a ghost trap and this is what we stumbled upon the following morning:






Then we found this on the dining room table:




Creepy. Thankfully, I had my motzah balls of death handy, so we vanquished the creature and never spoke of it again. Then, we headed out to see the celebrations of El Pilar. We had 1L cups of sangria and saw a concert by some random singer, Mariposa. The setting: in front of us, a huuuuge temporary stage overlooking the plaza. Behind us, the enormous cathedral, all lit up. There were also fireworks, because it's not a fiesta without the fuegos!





Mariposa sang several love songs that the crowd (which consisted of 5 to 120 year olds, in true Spanish fashion) sang along to, so we thought she might be famous, but google has disproved that theory... there was also a super random group in one of the plazas of a bunch of guys dressed in corsets, wearing colourful wigs and performing a super varied repertoire that included the Spanish version of "Hit the road, Jack", which translates into "Dejame en paz". It was AWESOME. Another awesome moment: Erin, Jessica, Simon and I sitting in a plaza, enjoying a tinto, and singing a great selection of Disney and Broadway classics at the top of our lungs. Video to come.




The next day, the streets were packed and the entire city was in holiday mode. The people of Zaragoza whipped out their traditional garb and headed to the ofrenda, bouquets of flower in hand.




As you can see, the ofrenda entails the piling up of all the flowers to create a shrine for La Virgen. There was also a stage in front of the flowers where groups from various parts of Spain performed different types of dances and songs while wearing awesome outfits.

All in all, another successful trip and a fun fiesta! Until next time...

Besos