What I love about Spain Celebrations

La Procesión de Corpus Cristi

Spaniards love to celebrate! Celebrate the weekend, celebrate a saint, celebrate with a drink and tapas, you name it! This post will be a little about the Celebration of Corpus Christi.

Landing six weeks after Easter, this celebration is a mix of religious celebration and Feria. Feria is a little like our fairs in the states with roots in agriculture, horse riding and carnival rides. While this part of our fairs are similar, there are a number of differences.

One of those differences is the main celebration locations called casetas. These festival tents are a place for gathering with friends and family, drinking and dancing. Spaniards just get started at 10pm and sometimes the party doesn’t end until the dawn. While I can’t keep this pace, it’s one of the things that makes me love Spain.

The other beautiful part of this celebration is La Procesión. This is a little like a somber, religious parade. This procession was headed by what they call the Big Heads and Giants. These iconic characters represent different people in Spain or locally and characters have fun hitting the viewers with inflated balloons.

Later, members of the church community walk with 4 foot long candles and are mixed with musical groups. The conclusion of the procession is the carrying of a large float by numerous men on their shoulders which many times is Saint Mary or other saints.