Monday was children's day in St Jean de Luz. The mayor laid on a massive picnic in the park for some 1,000 children. Parents attended too so it was quite some event. Throughout the day lines of children snaked through St Jean de Luz headed to and from the park. Given a
ll the children wore identical black and red clothing, child management was reportedly quite a challenge.Last night the festival came to an end. The 23rd June is officially the day of St Jean (which hopefully means an even longer festival next year). At ten pm Rue Garat was full of people. Lining the centre of the street were around fifty small fires aligned perfectly. The event was called the 'jumping of the fire' and everybody took it in turn to walk down the street jumping over each container. They were small so it was fairly easy. Somebody told me it will bring us all luck over the next year.
I have survived my first festival. It is quite spectacular. Music from dawn till dusk (and then till dawn), respectful wearing of black and red to celebrate, exceptional friendliness, much imbibing and yet another wonderful episode in our life in the Basque country. I probably won't miss loud bands waking me at an early hour after a heavy previous night, such as the example below which started at 0730.
Basque of the day:- tired :: nekatu
