Burgos Fiestas #4: Parades with slightly inebriated people

Members of a peña march in the parade with their instruments. The interesting thing was how these people kept themselves hydrated.

The fiestas of Burgos wouldn’t be complete without a parade — and there was a gigantic parade about halfway through the festival week that included clowns, street performers, marching bands, dancers, and even giant inflatable floats like the dragon one pictured below.  For the most part, the parade in Burgos was basically the same as any parade that I’m used to seeing in the USA; however, there was one slight difference in “hydration techniques,” so to speak. 

A giant dragon float passes by during the Burgos Festival Parade.

You see, in Burgos there are special groups called “peñas,” which are basically social groups (almost like a club) that sponsor the festivals and march in the parade.  The truth is that these people spend all year planning for the festivals of Burgos and prepare special songs, floats, and marches for the big parade.  These people also, however, like to drink wine — red wine to be exact.  As a result of their “strong interest” in wine, they actually use it to keep themselves hydrated while they’re marching in the parade. 

That’s right, in Spain (at least in this parade) you won’t find someone with a water bottle walking along with the marching bands to keep the musicians hydrated as is typically done in the States; instead, you’ll find someone walking along with a little “jug” of red wine.  When a band member feels as though he is becoming dehydrated — or losing his buzz — he just calls over the “official hydration person” and takes a small sip of wine.  I thought this little fact was pretty interesting since in the USA it’s usually the parade spectators who are a little buzzed during the festivities and not the actual parade participants. 

Of course, I don’t want to be misunderstood here.  The parade was not a bunch of drunks running around playing the tuba.  In fact, I did not see anyone “drunk off their rocker,” so to speak.  Still, it did appear to me that the music of the various bands formed by these peñas was a little bit “happier” than what it might have been had red wine not been the hydration fluid of choice. 

This post is part of a mini-series about the 2009 Burgos Festivals.  To read about other aspects of the Burgos Fiestas, check out my Burgos Fiestas 2009 page.  You may also be interested in checking out my Fiesta Photos on Picasa.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com