Fiestas in Jesus Pobre - Take 2!

Day 4 - Monday 5th June (More pictures HERE)

We were woken, early, to sounds resembling the start of World War 3 - this was supposed to be the religious day!

The church in Jesus Pobre is located behind my housing complex. Anything parading into town from there will inevitably go past our house. This was to be the case today as a piper and a drummer led a two man procession along the main road. Followed inevitably by a fire storm lasting for about five minutes. No chance of a lie in this day!

At about lunchtime a procession of the village folk, all dressed in their Sunday best passed along the road to the church. They were accompanied by the band as the bells rang out around the village.

It turned out to be a busy day for the band. They were called into action during the early evening as the whole village came out to watch the procession of the Holy Jesus through the streets. By chance the procession walked past my house and gave me the chance to take some areal photos. We then hot footed it round to the village centre and capture some more.

Having lived in the village for over a year I recognised many in the procession and of course all the regulars from the bars - everyone was out to see this event. It all ended at about 10.30pm with a firework display, immediately opposite our house. The top terrace made a great vantage point.  Suddenly you begin to realise what the Fiestas are all about!

Day 5 - Tuesday 6th June (More pictures HERE)

More firecrackers announced the start of a new day, the day people in the village would hook up with those born on the same year, another opportunity for a day on the drink then!

In the afternoon we came across several groups of people gathering around the Riurau accompanied by the same jazzy band which had led the fancy dress parade on the Saturday. There was also a shopping trolley laden down with drinks, well, you never know when your going to get thirsty!

I noticed that people were gathering, drinking and dancing in separate groups. All the groups were wearing different coloured t shirts and each group had a differing date printed on it. So, that's how they do it, what a great tradition. Sadly there were very few, if any, displaying my birth year.

In the evening we decided to have a walk into the centre of the village to check out how all these different age group gangs spend the Tuesday evening of the Fiesta. What met us was a full blown Ibiza style rave/dance night - whatever you want to call it. The locals were enjoying it to the max. So, I've worked it out. You get a group of your peers, design a T Shirt with your birth year printed on it, parade round the town in the afternoon getting drunk, possibly have a meal with all your age group then party on into the night in the village square. No driving to worry about and a short stagger home - result!

These people know how to party and I suspect many were going strong into the early hours.We would've loved to have stayed but work was calling for us the next day. I now appreciate why most of the locals take the full week off.

More Pictures of these two days can be found - HERE

Our first ever Fiesta in Jesus Pobre! "Does that make us virgins?"

This time last year Lynn and me had been in the village approximately a week. We'd missed the Fiesta's however, they'd been on in the middle of May. With Easter being a bit later this time around they've fallen on this first week of June and has given us a chance to soak up this annual music, drink and culture fest - will our livers last the course?

It all started on Thursday 1st June. Not officially though, this was the night of the village decoration, a chance for streets to compete with each other for the best design concept and obviously an opportunity to start where we meant to continue; in the local bars.

On the Friday evening the party got into full swing. Of course, with these Fiesta's all having a religious theme a parade from the village church through the streets, accompanied by the local band heralded the beginning. The whole village was out on the streets to hear the inauguration speech then it was into the bars to meet up with friends and family - a gentle bedding in.

On Saturday afternoon things began to hot up. That's the atmosphere and the weather. A free bar and

tapas was going strong in the middle of the village outside the Casa De Culture. It was manned by the committee or Festeros as they are known. They fund-raise all year round to put on this week of celebrations by organising events in the village. There were also street vendors selling toys, leather goods, food and a darts game - all the fun of the fair!

After a few beers in the local bar (The free beer area was getting very busy) we headed home for a siesta. Well, it was going to be a long night. At 6.30pm (okay about 7.30pm Spanish time) a fancy dress parade got underway through the streets. Sadly there weren't as many floats as in previous years but those that entered made a great effort..

The winning float was designed by a group of thirty somethings from the village. They all had children and thought of using the movie Up as their theme. Dancing girls! Ibiza style ravers and camouflaged hunters were also in attendance as well a a beach themed group. Orange shirted bandsmen played funky jazz and salsa as they slowly made their way through the narrow streets of the village. Sweets and confetti causing all the children to dive into the road to gather it all up.

 With the parade over it was back into the bars for the main event of the evening. Well, that's if you're

a Real Madrid fan. We met up with friends in Casa Rosita. the main Real Madrid bar in the village. It was heaving with supporters and the restaurant was also doing a roaring trade. This was the same for Bar Pedro over the road.

It was fitting, the final on the first weekend of the Fiestas, a great excuse for the village to wander the streets and choose their bar of choice to watch it. The game lived up to the pre-match hype as the Spanish side turned the heat up on their Italian rivals. A 4-1 scoreline ensuring the firecrackers would be exploding all night.

There was still the matter of live music at midnight, but not for us. We thought we'd leave the music

to the youngsters - you need more beauty sleep at our age.

The following morning we headed for the weekly market, temporarily housed in the square outside the village council building. The normal venue,The Rihrau was the setting for a band concert and was packed out. What a lovely way to start a Sunday morning.

The local bars were all doing a brisk mid-morning trade as villagers prepared for another free sponsored bar at 2pm.We decided to give this one a miss. It's going to be a long week ahead, and, as an ex-pub landlord, I was aware of the need to pace myself. One thing is for sure though, these Fiestas are a different thing altogether!

Check out more photo's from the first weekend of Fiestas 2017 here