¡ Viva la Candelaria !

2 February is the Fiesta de la Candelaria, Candlemas in English, but in fact based on a much older tradition represented by Groundhog Day, signalling the end of winter and the beginning of new growth. Last year we had a lively old time with bears in Arles-sur-Tech. This year was a more tranquil festival in Lobres. This is the village where we stayed last May; I never blipped it because it is quite drab and un-picturesque.

The 3-day festival had been announced in the local paper for a couple of days in advance, so we were quite surprised when we arrived at the appointed time of 10:30 and, as usual in Lobres, there was no-one about. But eventually a man appeared on a horse, and gradually more people gathered, along with an ox-cart bearing the Virgen de la Candelaria.

One everyone was ready, a small choir sang a song and the Virgin was showered with popcorn. Then the cavalcade moved off with much prancing and cavorting of beautiful Andalusian horses. In the square we stopped for another song, broad beans fresh from the pods, and rather murky sherry. As the cavalcade progressed the singing got more lively and there was dancing too.

I took this photo in the motorway underpass where there was another pause for singing and dancing. In fact I took loads of photos in this spot, because the light was wonderful, and I had great difficulty choosing one to blip. The blip assistant's casting vote went to this one. But there are more!

Eventually, after a slightly longer walk than we'd been expecting, we arrived at the picnic spot, where some riders took the opportunity to show off their horses' paces. There was a bar for a welcome glass of beer (it was sunny and about 20C by now). Many people had arrived in cars and were unpacking picnic tables and the makings of copious lunches which were clearly going to last all afternoon. It was a lovely event, and we were glad we went; we only spotted a handful of tourists like us, with the vast majority of the 100 or so people clearly being residents of Lobres. If you have a minute, please see the Flickr album of my favourites.

Anyway, not having prepared a picnic we walked back to Lobres at a considerably more rapid pace, pinching ourselves at the thought that it is February and here we are getting sunburnt. Then we popped to the restaurant just outside Lobres where we used to go for wifi and free tapas, and had a cheap and cheerful lunch before heading home.