July 6, 2017

At noon today, July 6, fireworks, wild cheers, and singing will announce the beginning of the raucous San Fermín Festival at the Plaza Consistorial in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona (also called Iruña). The annual nine-day fiesta is known for its bullfights, its signature red-and-white outfits, and its rowdy celebrations. It is most famous, however, for the morning bull runs through the city streets—events collectively called the “Running of the Bulls,” or El Encierro in Spanish.

People run from the bulls during the San Fermín Festival in Pamplona, Spain, on July 14, 2013. Credit: © Migel/Shutterstock

The first bull run begins tomorrow morning at eight o’clock. At that time, rockets will signal the opening of a bull pen gate in Pamplona’s old quarter. The six bulls scheduled for that day’s fights (and a handful of steers or oxen) then spill out of the pen and into the streets. Driven from behind, the bulls meet crowds of people on the fenced-off course, and the 930-yard (850-meter) race to the plaza de toros (bullring) is on. In just a few breathtaking minutes, the bulls rumble through the streets as people sprint and dodge and duck and tumble to get out of the way. The barricaded and walled paths quickly funnel the bulls through the entrance to the bullring, where the bulls are eventually guided into waiting pens. The event is repeated each day until the festival’s end on July 14.

Pamplona, host of the famous San Fermín Festival, lies in far northern Spain near the French border. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Many more people watch the spectacle from balconies and barricades than actually participate in the running of the bulls, which is highly dangerous. Runners risk being trampled or gored, and the bulls may fall down or become injured. Some animal rights organizations oppose this tradition, as well as the bullfights themselves. The festival and running of the bulls remain popular, however, and attract people from all over the world.

The running of the bulls, or el encierro, precedes bullfights later in the day. In this photograph, matadors and their assistants enter a bullring before a bullfight. Credit: © Alamy Images

Spanish celebrations involving bull-running or bullfighting date back to at least the 1000’s. Pamplona’s Fiesta de San Fermín has included such activities since 1591. The festival honors San Fermín, the patron saint of Pamplona and of Spain’s northern Navarre (Navarra) region. In addition to bull-running and bullfighting, the festival’s activities include dancing, fireworks, music concerts, and parades. Pamplona’s encierros and corridas (bullfights) enthralled American writer Ernest Hemingway, who first came to the San Fermín Festival in the early 1920’s. His novel The Sun Also Rises—which takes place partly in Pamplona—made the festival and its running of the bulls world famous.

March 15, 2017

This week, the Spanish city of Valencia hosts one the world’s more unique holiday celebrations: las Fallas (or les Falles). In Valencia, a falla is a type of torch, and for the festival, artistic monuments (also called fallas) are built and ceremoniously burned in the streets. The fire festival of las Fallas celebrates the coming of spring, lasting several days before culminating on the feast day of San José (Saint Joseph), March 19.

A bonfire known as la Cremà consumes fallas and ninots on the last night of las Fallas in Valencia, Spain. Credit: © Jorgefontestad/iStockphoto

Las Fallas dates back to the Middle Ages when each spring (when fires were no longer needed for light and warmth) carpenters burned spare wood outside their shops in Valencia. Over time, decorative additions were added to the spare wood, and the burnings took on a competitive and celebratory nature. The Roman Catholic Church combined this springtime custom with the feast day of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.

Fallas and ninots can be quite elaborate and take months to plan and build. Fires then destroy them in minutes. Credit: © Karol Kozlowski, Shutterstock

Fallas can be quite large and are made of such materials as wood, cardboard, and papier-mâché. To accelerate the burn and add some “pop,” they are often stuffed with firecrackers or other combustibles. In Valencia, each neighborhood comes together to create its own falla. The fallas consist of themed scenes that include ninots (puppets) that represent cultural, political, or religious figures (often critical or satirical in nature). The fallas are paraded through the streets and awards are given for the most creative and decorative ones. The fallas (which also means defects or faults in Spanish) then go up in flames as symbolic acts of purification. Despite the short life spans of the fallas and their ninots (a few are preserved in Valencia’s Museo Fallero), great care and pride go into their creation. Falleros, the artists who create the fallas, are highly regarded.

People often dress in historical and traditional costumes for las Fallas, and they crowd the streets of Valencia throughout the festival. The noise of firecrackers and fireworks follows musical parades each day, culminating with the grand Cavalcada de Foc (Fire Parade) on the evening of March 19. Late on the fiesta’s final night, the fallas are burned in a huge bonfire known as la Cremà. Attentive firefighters stand by throughout las Fallas, dousing stray flames and spraying water on nearby structures to prevent them from catching fire. Similar holidays known as the Hogueras de San Juan (Bonfires of Saint John) are held in Alicante and other Spanish towns to mark the summer solstice.

In 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added las Fallas to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This list aims to safeguard important cultural traditions, such as storytelling, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

February 10, 2017

On Sunday, February 12, celebrations in Chile will mark the 200^th anniversary of the Battle of Chacabuco, a key event in the history of the South American country. The battle took place on Feb. 12, 1817, near Santiago, the capital, during Chile’s struggle for independence from Spain. The Army of the Andes (made up of Chilean and Argentine rebels) defeated a Spanish-led army at Chacabuco—a rebel victory that led to Chilean independence in 1818. The battle is famous for the actions of Argentine General José de San Martín and Chilean patriot Bernardo O’Higgins, who became Chile’s first head of state.

Chilean and Argentine soldiers attend a ceremony at the Monument to the Victory of Chacabuco on Feb. 12, 2007. The monument, built in 1971, stands on the site of the former battlefield. Credit: Kiko Benítez S. (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

In the mid-1500’s, Spain established a colony that became known as the Viceroyalty of Peru. By the late 1700′s, the colony included modern-day Chile, Peru, and western Bolivia. Santiago was the colony’s administrative center in Chile. In 1808, France forced Spain’s king from the throne during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815). With Spanish attention turned toward Europe, revolts erupted in many of Spain’s colonies, including the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1814, Spain and its officials in America increased their efforts to reestablish authority, beginning a bloody period known as la Reconquista (the Reconquest) of Spanish America. At first, Spanish-led royalist armies put down several colonial revolts. However, rebel armies eventually got the upper hand, leading to independence for several Latin American countries.

The 1817 Battle of Chacabuco was fought in this scenic valley near Santiago, Chile. The valley is now home to far more guanacos than soldiers. Carretera Austral. Credit: © Shutterstock

In 1810, revolutionary factions calling for self-rule gained political control of Chile. Disagreements between O’Higgins and other Chilean leaders weakened the new government, however, and the Spanish royalist faction (with support from Peru) regained control of Chile in 1814. O’Higgins fled with a rebel army to neighboring Argentina, where he joined forces with San Martín. San Martín helped secure Argentine independence in 1816. He then led O’Higgins and their combined Army of the Andes into Chile in January 1817, a journey that included a dangerous and costly crossing of the Andes Mountains. More than 1,000 soldiers died from cold, disease, and hunger during the 300-mile (480-kilometer) crossing, but roughly 3,600 surviving rebels neared Santiago in early February.

Argentine General and South American liberator José de San Martín. Credit: © Thinkstock

The Spanish royalist army had expected the rebels to take a different route through the Andes, and most of its forces were far from Santiago. Some 1,500 troops still in the area began fortifying positions north of Santiago at Chacabuco, a ridge at the head of a wide valley. Before they could secure the high ground, however, San Martín and the Army of the Andes attacked the royalists on the morning of February 12. O’Higgins led a furious assault on the main royalist forces as a second rebel force under Argentine General Miguel Soler moved to attack from the side and the rear. Fierce fighting took place until an afternoon attack led by San Martín reinforced O’Higgins and overran the battered royalist forces as Soler blocked their retreat.

Chilean patriot and leader Bernardo O’Higgins. Credit: © Kean Collection/Getty Images

About 500 royalist troops were killed at Chacabuco, and more than 600 were captured. The Army of the Andes lost some 130 killed and wounded. The remaining Spanish and royalist troops withdrew to strongholds in southern Chile or escaped to Peru. O’Higgins took control of Chile, which declared its independence in February 1818. The royalists tried once more to retake Chile, but they were eventually defeated at the Maipo River (also spelled Maipú) near Santiago on April 5, 1818—the final major battle in Chile’s war of independence. The Army of the Andes then joined with rebels in Peru, helping win independence for that nation in 1826.

January 13, 2017

In December 2016, an exhibition of the work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo opened at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The museum, home to a broad collection of the works of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, is showing more than 60 of Kahlo’s works through the middle of April 2017. “Frida Kahlo at the Dalí” includes 15 paintings, 7 drawings, and numerous photographs. The exhibit extends outdoors, where a collection of flowers and plants replicates Kahlo’s own gardens at la Casa Azul (the Blue House), her home in Mexico City. Casa Azul, the Coyoacán District house where Kahlo was born, lived much of her life, and died, is now home to the Museo Frida Kahlo.

The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, is hosting a Frida Kahlo exhibition until April 2017. Credit: © Shutterstock

Both Kahlo (1907-1954) and Dalí (1904-1989) lived their lives much as they created their art, operating just beyond what might be considered “normal” or expected. Both created dreamlike images, and they shared a contemporary and linguistically similar—if geographically distant—art world. Dalí, firmly positioned within the Surrealist art movement, differed from Kahlo, however, whose works—while sometimes crossing the border into the surreal—offered harsher and revealing truths that often dealt with physical and emotional suffering. Kahlo rejected Surrealism and considered her works as real as her life itself. Nonetheless, French author and critic André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, took great interest in Kahlo’s work and described her art as “a bomb wrapped in a ribbon.”

Frida Kahlo’s 1945 Autorretrato con changuito (Self Portrait with Monkey) is among her works on display at the Dalí Museum. Credit: Autorretrato con changuito (1945), oil on composite board by Frida Kahlo; Museo Dolores Olmedo, © 2016 Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust (Artists Rights Society)

At the age of 15, Kahlo was severely injured in an accident while riding on a bus in Mexico City. From then on, she was crippled and lived in constant pain. She underwent about 35 operations, including the amputation of one leg in 1953. Unable to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, Kahlo taught herself to paint. In 1929, she married fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Their stormy relationship added fuel to the fire of Kahlo’s art. Most of her roughly 200 paintings are self-portraits, often painted with jarring colors and odd spatial relationships. Many of her pictures include startling symbolic images and elements from Mexican history.

Frida Kahlo in 1941. Credit: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The pairing of Kahlo’s works with those of the Surrealist master Dalí may seem at odds on the surface, but an exploration of their mutual eccentricities puts them hand-in-hand in a walk through the enduring art of the 1900’s.

August 27, 2015

On Wednesday, August 26, revelers crowded the streets of the Spanish town of Buñol, near Valencia, for the annual Tomatina Festival, commonly known as the “World’s Biggest Food Fight.” For an hour or two on one spectacularly messy day, 20,000 people gather in little Buñol (population 9,000) to sacrifice more than 110 tons (100 metric tons) of tomatoes. But this festival honors no saints; it recalls no somber anniversary of an entire town killed by tomatoes. No, la Tomatina—where throwing food is required—is purely for the fun of it.

Man sliding through tomatoes, La Tomatina festival, Spain
Credit: Nedim Chaabene (licensed under cc by 2.0)

La Tomatina dates back to the mid-1940’s—Spanish food fighters argue over which year exactly. They do agree, however, that it began during the gigantes y cabezudos (giants and big-heads) parade characterized by outsized papier-mâché versions of Spanish heroes and saints. How the first Tomatina began is unclear, but a common story is that an argument near a produce stall led to the furious throwing of tomatoes between the offending parties. Anger was soon replaced by laughter and a lot of smashed tomatoes. The same people returned the next year and repeated the food fight on purpose, and a tradition was born. That year and in the following years, police and others (namely, dictator Francisco Franco) intervened. There was general outcry in favor of the food fight, however, as well as fantastical tomato funeral protests, and it continued in a somewhat hard-to-imagine underground fashion until Franco died in 1975. After that, la Fiesta de Tomatina exploded.

The festival begins at 11 a.m. sharp (you gotta have rules) with the spiking of a ham atop a greased pole in the town square. Tomatoes are clenched as people try—and fail—to climb the greased pole and free the ham. At last, when someone agile enough reaches the ham (or when the grease has worn away), it is knocked from its perch and scrambled over like a loose football. A cannon booms and trucks bearing tomatoes free their tailgates: the great tomato food fight begins! The air is filled with red ripe projectiles, and there is nowhere to hide in the narrow streets of Buñol. The trucks run the gauntlet, squeezing through the crowd and spilling tomatoes. When the tomatoes and tomato-throwers are exhausted, the cannon sounds again, ending la Tomatina. Covered from head to foot in tomato pulp, people then brave fire hoses or head to the river to rinse off—and then on to the nearest tavern.

Until 2013, some 40,000 to 50,000 people crammed Buñol for the tomato fight. The ungainly masses (and hard-to-explain tomato injuries) forced some order on the festival, and la Tomatina is now strictly ticketed and limited to “only” 20,000 people.

June 3, 2014

King Juan Carlos of Spain announced yesterday that he will step down after nearly 40 years on the throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince Felipe. The abdication could take place as early as mid-June. Upon his ascension, the new king will be Felipe VI. The Spanish royal family are members of the House of Bourbon. The Spanish Bourbon dynasty dates back to the War of the Spanish Succession.

Juan Carlos was popular for much of his reign, but in recent years he has lost the confidence of many Spaniards. The monarchy has been tarnished by a long-running corruption investigation into the business dealings of his daughter, the Infanta Cristina, and her husband. Support for Juan Carlos also fell when the public learned that he had gone on a lavish elephant-hunting trip to Botswana in April 2012–the height of Spain’s financial crisis. The economy of Spain remains in dismal condition. Fully 25 percent of the work forces is unemployed. The rate of unemployment for people under the age of 25 stood at 55.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Prince Juan Carlos (left) became king of Spain upon the death in 1975 of fascist dictator Francisco Franco (right). Juan Carlos ignored Franco's intentions for the government by introducing a parliamentary democracy. (United Press Int.)

After yesterday’s announcement, tens of thousands of people across a number of Spanish cities, including Madrid and Barcelona, demonstrated, demanding a referendum on the monarchy. However, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has rejected all calls for a referendum, saying the monarchy had “the support of the great majority in Spain.” The two main parties in parliament and many Spanish newspapers remain loyal to the monarchy.

Juan Carlos is credited with introducing reforms to dismantle the regime of Francisco Franco and move Spain from a dictatorship to a parliamentary democracy. He also played a major role in stopping a military coup in 1981.

Additional World Book articles:

• Royal families
• Spain 1975 (a Back in Time article)
• Spain 1976 (a Back in Time article)
• Spain 1981 (a Back in Time article)
• Spain 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: No End in Sight (a special report)

October 30, 2013

Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1 percent in the three-month period from July through September, the Spanish National Statistics Institute reported today. The third-quarter economic growth ended a two-year recession. Spain’s economy had contracted for the previous nine quarters. Spain—with Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal—was one of the countries hit worst by the recent debt crisis in the eurozone. (The eurozone consists of the 17 European Union member nations that adopted a single currency, the euro). According to the Institute report, Spain’s third quarter economic growth was driven by an increase in exports and a boost to tourism from vacationers avoiding the ongoing upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East.

The euro has replaced the individual currencies of the eurozone—made up of 17 member nations of the European Union. The eurozone has finally begun to climb out of a lengthy recession (European Central Bank).

Spain’s economy was hard hit when a decade-long property bubble burst with the worldwide crash of 2008. The country’s banks, sitting on hundreds of billions of euros in bad property loans, only survived with government bailouts. Thousands of businesses went under, and the country’s rate of unemployment soared to 26 percent. The rate of unemployment among people under the age of 25 spiked to more than 50 percent. High unemployment combined with a government austerity program consisting of spending cuts and tax hikes triggered huge public protests.

Many economists now suggest that the eurozone debt crisis appears to be easing. They point out that Ireland emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2013, helped by a rebound in exports and a rise in consumer spending. Portugal pulled out of two and a half years of deep recession with economic growth of 1.1 percent in the second quarter of this year, surpassing expectations. Economists believe that Greece’s record six-year recession is bottoming out, with the economy set to shrink this year by significantly less than analysts had forecast in June. Italy remains in recession, but the Economics Ministry reported yesterday that economic indicators suggest that a predicted recovery next year will likely be stronger than expected.

Additional World Book articles:

• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)
• Economics Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• European Union: The Euro (a special report)
• Eurozone Crisis: No End in Sight (a special report)