Pilar

October 12, 2011

 

The traditional costume of Aragon

The offering of flowers

October 12th is the Saint say of Pilar, as well as one of the biggest festivals of the year in this part of Spain, 10 days and 9 nights.  In Zaragoza, the city that my dad and brother work and go to school in which is about an hour away, is where the cathedral of Pilar is, making it the center of festivities.  This year Pilar was on a Wednesday so it ended up only being 4 nights here, but in Zaragoza they just took of the whole week. Many things go on during this week and a half, none of which include much sleep.  On the day of Pilar, everybody gets dressed up in traditional costume of Aragon, the region, and there is a big parade that you can be in if you are wearing the dress.  Also in the plaza of Pilar there is a huge structure with the symbol of Pilar on top.  Throughout the day from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. there is probably a kilometer long line of people in traditional dresses with flowers, all waiting to put there flowers into the structure so by the end of the day it looks like it is made of flowers.  The act of putting flowers on the structure shows their devotion to the Virgin Pilar.  Last year they said there were about 450,000 people who participated.  Another activity is at 8 in the morning there are bull fights. You might think this is quite early but really it's quite late.  People stop by for the bull fights on their way home from the parties.  At 8 they put out baby bulls and let the people can play amateur bull fighting, always with a Spanish band playing.  Something for the younger generation is something called interpeñas.  This is a place where there are a bunch of huge tents set up, each playing with a different band.  Every night there are about 50,000 people there.  My host mom and I went to Zaragoza on Tuesday night and stayed Wednesday for the festivities, so I went to interpeñas with one of the exchange students living in Zaragoza and all of her friends.  It was so fun.  It was like 6 or 7 huge disco-techs.  On the weekend before I celebrated it in Sabi with all of my friends.  It is definitely a lot mellower but still so much fun.  There is a great band that plays in the polideportivo, like a municipal sports center, and we all went out for breakfast an the walk home, at 8 in the morning.  Spanish fiestas are a little different from ones in the U.S., haha.  I am so glad I got to be a part of such an outstanding event that is such a huge part of this region.