Joaldun

On our afternoon walk around Hondarribia today we suddenly heard rhythmic cow bells and were amazed to see about 10 guys in pairs walking up the street with huge cow bells attached to their waists. 

A joaldun is a traditional carnival character in the Basque culture who alerted people to the start of carnival, traditionally celebrated annually on the last weekend in January. The costume consists of a conical hat with colourful ribbons and feathers, a kerchief around the neck, a shirt and short skirt made of sheepskin, two cowbells at the waist, a white skirt (which looked like broderie anglaise!) and a sprinkler made of horsehair held in their right hand. They were very colourful and also very noisy which a lot of the dogs didn't appreciate much! 

I'm attaching an extra of some shutters and their shadows which appealed to me this morning when we went on a long walk down to the port.

Do have a look at Mr Sk's entry today (Hillclimber888) to see some more traditional Basque sports going on outside our hotel!