Day of Traditions in El Palmar

Sunday's Day of Traditions or Día de la Trilla, the last day of the fiestas here in the village of El Palmar, was, as in previous years, a great day out.

The building of the Carbonera - that smoking heap of charcoal producing earth and foliage - was business as usual and, I can't help laughing that it - typically for here - took, by my count, 10 blokes to do so, six of whom were merely "observers".

The bit you don't see in the photo was that it also required an entire bottle of wine, local, obviously, poured from a recycled whiskey bottle!

One element missing this year were the horses - except this pony giving free rides to children. Disappointing, because they do look so pretty, prancing around on the wheat, but it was obvious that their work is also essential to the process. Without the horses first having flattened the straw, the oxen had a harder time of dragging their boards over it.

What one learns by attending these country fairs is how everything has to work in harmony in the countryside. They may make this all into a game for the kids, but even their part, for added weight, is important.

And while these may seem like "quaint traditions", we have to learn from them - while we can - with wheat being predicted to be one of global warming's next casualties.

Meanwhile, the fun continued and somebody must have mentioned the free food for a queue like this to form. That wasn't even half of it either. :)

The rest of the afternoon people spent dancing in the open air next to that market building. Even in the early evening, I could still hear the band playing, all the way up at home.

Those fiestas weren't going to end until everyone had enough, I think.

Personally, after trying to cover even just the major events from the 10 days that the fiestas lasted, I had loads of fun, but I'm also fairly knackered!

The local people have been brilliant, answering all my "stupid" questions over why such and such a thing is done. And, as well as being aware of my constant snapping with the camera, many know that I've been translating this into English, which had made them ever more keen to respond.

You may not come to El Palmar's fiestas in particular, however, but all towns and villages on these islands have their own version of fiestas like this - with a similar lineup of events - so that, if you do come across a fiesta in progress, or make a trip to see one, I hope this series will give you some better insight into what's going on to be able to enjoy it and participate.

And do you know what, there on Sunday were some people in nice, brand new blue t-shirts printed with Comisión de Fiestas 2008. Yeah, selling raffle tickets to begin to collect money to pay for next year's fiestas already. :)

More Photos from the Fiestas El Palmar 2007