La Tamborrada

Closing ceremonies in la Plaza de la Constitucion
San Sebastian is a candidate for the cultural capital of Europe in the year 2016
Plaza de la Constitucion
Los cocineros
Mas cocineros
All ages involved!
Erica (italiana), Raiz, Ana (espanolas), Eli (italiana), me
Can't talk, but can play the drums! :)
The "women" and the cooks
One of the two water fountains; one of the parades ended here

Getting in on the action!

Cooks
The Basque Flag
Viva Donostia!
One of the "French soldiers"
Cocinero statue outside of a bank

Possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity; estar en San Sebastián/Donostia the 19^th and 20^th of January. An annual festival, entitled La Tamborrada, or Damborada en Euskara (Basque) is rooted deep in the history of the Basque population in Donostia. A brief, brief history of the celebration:

In 1597 a plague swept through San Sebastián, and the townspeople prayed to Saint Sebastián for an end to the disease that was wiping out their population. A possible miracle-the plague ended, and the people promised to celebrate the saint’s day on January 20^th, to give thanks to Saint Sebastián. At the time, Donostia was a walled city with a fort inhabited by the French Army; therefore, the people worked in shipping and commerce, living in a military style environment. Only two sources of agua, Kanoletan and Koxkax, were available for the women, cooks, and soldiers. Therefore, a line was formed everyday in which people filled their barrels with water to cook from the two fountains in the city. As you can imagine, the lines were long and cumbersome, and what does one do when bored? Sing, and “play the drums,” or the barrels with ladels. The story says that the women and chefs/bakers played tunes on their wooden barrels, not only because it was fun, but to urge those who were filling their barrels to hurry up! The French soldiers would respond to the noise, by joining along and somewhat “answering” the call with their own beat. And this is how la Tamborrada came to be, also symbolizing the first day of Carnaval, and the opening of the sidra houses (cider houses), or simply marking the springtime, an era of celebration while honoring Saint Sebastián.

After a spaghetti dinner at some classmates’ house, a group of about ten of us headed downtown to partake in the festivites, as this was the “homework” assigned to us by our professors. The opening ceremonies started at midnight on the 19^th in Plaza de Constitución, and lasted about a half an hour. As the plaza is fairly small and enclosed, after attempting to fight out way through only about four steps before being pushed, we decided to just give up and hang out with people on the street as to not get trampled. The streets of the Parte Vieja, the old sector of town, were filled with infants to elders, singing the song of San Sebastián, eating, drinking, and socializing. I am convinced that every person in the city was celebrating in some form or another, and the streets were jam packed with gente feliz. The ambiente was like something I have never experienced, as I have never witnessed such passion for heritage and tradition. The colors of the celebration, blue and white, adorned doorways and windows throughout the city, while different societies, or groups of people, dressed as either cooks or French soldiers, and marched around the city, playing their drums (French soldiers) or wooden barrels. These different groups played throughout the twenty-four hours, each one playing for about an hour each. Our instructors told us that we should not plan on sleeping because we would not be able to because of the drumming that would be shaking our heads….but that was a bit of an exaggeration; they did play for twenty four hours, but not continuously in every neighborhood. Spectators also participated in the festival, purchasing our own plates or drums and drumsticks, and following the beat of the certain songs the groups were playing. This lasted well into the night, roaming the streets, speaking Spanish, and essentially become a San Sebastian-ite for a night!

At about 7:30 am, I could no longer stay awake, and headed home with my roommates for a few hours rest before heading out to enjoy the next ten hours. Two of my Spanish roomies, two of their Italian friends, and another of their friends from Barcelona, and I bought bocadillos de tortilla de patata (potato/egg omelete sandwich-typical Spanish food), and headed down to the port to enjoy a bit of sunshine and eat our lunch. This must have been the hour of siesta/rest up for the big push through the rest of the day, because there weren’t many people out and about. However, we ended up finding and adolescent parade that we followed, drumming along with them for about an hour and then an adult one as well before attending the closing ceremonies. The closing ceremonies lasted for about an hour. We claimed our space early to ensure a spot close to the stage, and did the typical dancing and even some singing in Basque, as people did the congo around the plaza, chanted in between songs, and imitated those on stage as they tapped their drumsticks together and frolicked. Those who were fortunate, were able to observe from the balconies of the apartments in the plaza. Basque flags honoring the festival hung from balconies, and interestingly enough, no Spanish flags or colors were present, to me, making the statement that this was a BASQUE, San Sebastian festival. The Tamborrada expemlifies one of the reasons I have fallen in love with not only the Spanish culture, but the Basque culture as well.