What You Need To Know pt7, Puentes

A bridge as you may know is usually something that gets you over a hole, let's say a river, gorge or something and to the other side. In Spain though a bridge is a cultural phenomenon, it is a Puente. A bridge has just happened. Thursday was San Jose, father's day to the uninitiated. This is a holiday in many parts of Spain (In Valencia we had the Fallas burning that night as described below) You may have noticed that the holiday fell on the Thursday meaning something had to be invented to get us to the weekend without working, thus the bridge. So what are they and why are bridges so special? Here we go.

1) If a holiday falls on the weekend or a Monday or Friday they are considered bad holidays in Spain because no bridge can be applied. A Wednesday is a great opportunity but more difficult to swing.

2) The magic days are Tuesday and Thursday. If a holiday falls then the vast majority of Spain will see that as a great opportunity to have a Monday or Friday skive.

3) What do people do on bridges? They join traffic jams and swap sitting in their offices for sitting in an overheated car heading for the coast or mountains

4) A new lexicon enters the language during the Bridges, Muertes en la carretera" "Deaths on the road". A count is kept of the number of deaths, mostly caused by overtired or ridiculously impatient drivers going the wrong way down the motorway or misjudging that overtaking maneuver they didn't really need to do. The numbers are always compared to the previous year and are regarded as a successful operation if the are reduced even just by one.

5) The Puente par excellence is the December bridge. The 6th and 8th of December are holidays in Spain and this usually means that people can take advantage of this one to start December as they mean to go on, not working. You obviously take the 7th off too as it is in the middle of two holidays, but if the first one falls on a Tuesday then you are spoilt for choice of how to swing the Puente. Do you take the Monday off and add the previous weeekend or the Friday and add the following weekend, or do you be really innovative and take the whole nine days off? Problems and consdierations eh?

What is your experience of the Puentes in Spain?

What You Must Know pt 5. Fiestas

If you come to live and work in Spain get used to the working hours first, they are best described as loose although very long as coffee in the middle of the morning can take an hour of ti me out of the day, and often does. What really makes you angry or delighted depending on your viewpoint though are the fiestas. What you must know about the fiestas is here therefore.

1) Every town, village and pueblito will have a patron saint and render homage to them in their local town fiestas.

2) The word "Fiesta" literally translated means, "damn fine excuse to pretend we are still practicing Catholics and therefore get a day off work".

3) Fiestas usually involve the playing with, torturing or receiving injuries from animals of various types. They should be viewed from this traditional viewpoint

4) Your arteries get a hiding at fiesta time as the street vendors selling deep fried dough in the form of buñuelos, churros, porras (Big churros), and other sugar coated, sugar infused or sugar bombed delicacies overwhelm you.

5) Spanish fiestas are loud and they usually are late. They go on into the night and sometimes start first thing in the morning too.

6) They sneak up on you. After ten years in my town the fiestas always happen when I am least expecting it. I only find out usually because there is a huge firework display going on at midnight for some reason on the first night for however long that i have managed to get to bed early.

7) Fireworks!!!! mmmm fireworks. I live in Valencia colloquially known as the land of the 3 fingered handshake due to their obsession with throwing fireworks as kids. All Valencians talk loud too because they have all been deafened by too many Mascletas and just to help you out I have posted one here. Stick with it until 5.46 mins for the conclusion it just gets louder and louder


Fallas de Valencia 2009 - Mascleta by Pirotecnia Penyarroja from Freakpyromaniacs on Vimeo.

8) The religious devotion on show is totally genuine of course. These people spend all year praying to the virgin and wrapping themselves in sackcloth and ashes.

9) The pueblos will have the Matanza at certain times of the year. This is not a fiesta for the squeamish nor vegertarians. This is where a pig, usually, is sacrificed and every single part of its body is used to make weird and wonderful (sic) concoctions and variations on sausages. Pay special attention to the pancakes with pig's blood.

10) Fiestas are great and what hold the community together in Spain. The whole year is devoted to preparing the fiestas in many parts and once they are gone, well there is always next year's to plan.

What are your experiences of Spanish fiestas