Ansó 21 September
by Isabel Isherwood - 08:03 on 21 September 2016
The first day of the Fiestas! The school was closed, and steadily over the course of the day the number people on the streets has swelled. There are always people on the streets of Ansó; around midday there were not really any more than normal – clusters of old folk on benches, and small bands of children roaming around on mysterious missions. By early afternoon a charanga band were belting joyful trumpet tunes out to a near empty square, but the children had begun to gather in nervous, giggling clusters, peering jumpily down side-streets and running at the least sign of movement. Eventually the Cabezudos arrived – four costumed characters with enormous heads, wielding brooms with which they chase the children and swat at any who are unlucky enough to be caught.
The place erupted into screams and peals of laughter, the children fled up the street pursued by the Cabezudos who were in turn pursued by the band. Iona and Rowan, quite horrified by the whole event, took refuge up some stairs out of sight and wouldn’t come down until the procession had gone. By the time we got back to the square it was starting to fill up, the band were back, and the Cabezudos were removing their disguises and revealing themselves as local youths, dripping with sweat, being broom-swatted themselves by the children they’d just been chasing.
The party moved gradually up through town to the old folks home, and as the day was warming up we slipped away for a swim in one of the river pools. By the time we came back people were drifting down to the sports pitch for wine-and-peaches (chocolate for children) and a rather inebriated game of football (many players with a can of beer in one hand and a fag in the other throughout the proceedings); then back up the hill again to the main square for champagne and dancing, more participants arriving at each new stage. By 10pm the streets were bustling and people were dishing out Jabalí (wild boar) stew. This to be followed by more dancing, with the last event of the night scheduled for 5am….. The girls and I snook away to bed, not yet being quite accustomed to the Spanish nocturnal lifestyle…..
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