And Running with Horses

Back in 2017 I was on the cuesta, the slope, in Caravaca, the crowd parted, as it does, to let the horse and handlers through. Peering through the viewfinder of the camera I saw no danger but the bloke behind me yanked me back and let loose a load of verbal abuse about death and injury. The photos were a bit blurred too. So this year I decided to be sensible and I went early enough to bag a spot on the castle wall looking down to where the horses run. 

The photos were in focus, the viewpoint was safe and I was able to talk to a family from Llano de Brujas who were leaning on the same wall  But after about ten horses had run past I thought I'd have a bit of a wander and see if I could get some nice, safe, snaps of the horses as they arrived at the top of the hill. It was the first time I'd done that. Interesting. Injured horse handlers, crying horse handlers, girlfriends greeting their hero horse handlers. The horses looked happier too now that nobody was poking them with a stick and demanding that they run through a red and white coloured mob of shouting people. My personal favourite chant was "It smells of armpits here" - it did.

I had seen enough horses and decided to leave so I had no option but to join the throng of people on the slope as the only route to get to the signed emergency exit, the way back to my parked car. It wasn't so easy pushing my way through hundreds and hundreds of boozed and drugged up young people enjoying themselves with just a tad of danger to spice it up a bit. In fact I found myself caught up in this ebb and flow of bodies long enough for about five horses to pass. I have to be honest, I was glad when I reached the way out. I thought I might be there for the whole event. Some of those snaps with the bits of horse showing above the mass of red and white are in focus.

The Caballos del Vino, the Wine Horses, is something that happens every 2nd May in Caravaca de la Cruz. There are about 70 groups, peñas, and each one has a horse that takes part in three contests over the three days. The 2nd May is the big day though. Like baguettes and dry stone walling this event too is Intangible Cultural Heritage. The story goes that the Castle/Church in Caravaca was under siege by the Muslims, the Moors, in the middle of the 13th Century. Caravaca is called Caravaca de la Cruz because the church there has a piece of the "One True Cross". Not letting the Muslims get their hands on such an important Christian relic was considered to be top priority. The defenders had emptied their water cisterns so a group of Knights Templar decided to run the siege and take them something to drink. They couldn't find any water (!) so they loaded their steeds with wine skins and charged, bat out of hell like, up the slope taking the besiegers by surprise. They made it into the castle and the defenders, being well pleased to have a bit of something to slake their thirst, decorated the horses with flowers and suchlike.

The 2nd of May celebrations are dedicated to the One True Cross. Before the horses start running there is a floral offering taken to the church. Then it's the popular bit. The horses, wearing incredibly intricate embroidered mantles, start from a flat spot below the castle and run up a slope to the castle gates. The horses have four handlers, two on each side, and it's a simple time trial to run from the start to the finish. The starter says such and such horse can run, the four handlers try to get into position before they cross the start line and then horse and handlers run up the hill, it takes a few seconds. Caballo en carrera, racing horse, is the warning to the crowd. If you don't heed the warning four blokes and a horse may trample you to death. If the handlers arrive at the finish line still attached to the horse then the run is valid. Keeping up with the horse can't be easy especially as there are several hundred, possibly several thousand, people in the way who have to move to one side to let the horses pass.

Caravaca is pretty lively on the second of May.

Lots of pictures in the May album

Too much of a good thing

When I turned up for work this morning there was nobody there. The school was closed. Nobody bothered to tell me but it gave me the surprise bonus of being able to get to the Wine Horse Festival, Caballos del Vino, in Caravaca de la Cruz. There are all sorts of Fiestas but if we agree that a Fiesta is some sort of street based celebration open to the general public then I have been to a lot of fiesta type events recently. More specifically in the last week or so. A bit back there was Easter where we saw various processions in Pinoso, Tobarra and in Murcia. Then we went to the Moors and Christians in Banyeres de Mariola, the Romeria to San Pancracio in Sax and more Moors and Christians in Onil.

Easter in Spain I described a few posts ago so I'll skip straight to Moors and Christians which is loosely based on the triumph of the Christians over the North African invaders/rulers. In most places, as the name suggests, there are two main bands; The Moors, the North Africans, and the Christians, the eventually successful Spaniards. Generally the Moors get the better costumes. Sometimes there are Smugglers and sometimes Students. I don't know why and I'm too lazy to find out. Moors and Christians vary a lot. Sometimes there are big floats and lots of camels and horses. In other places the various troops march shoulder to shoulder keeping strict time to the music. We've seen one, I forget where, where the costumes included 18th Century soldiers uniform for lots of the participating groups. In the two and a half I've seen in the last few days the various groups haven't been particularly marshall. Some of them have vaguely marched, kept in step, but many more have simply gone for a stroll with a drink, usually a spirit and mixer, in hand. The strollers have been supported by members of the same group firing off arquebuses - those old fashioned blunderbuss type guns.

The Wine Horses is tied in to the Moors and Christians in a way. The usual story is that when the Castle of Caravaca de la Cruz was besieged by the Moors, in around 1250, the defenders ran out of water when their cisterns were exhausted. A group of Knights Templar loaded up some fast horses with wine skins and sped into the castle taking the besiegers by surprise and relieving the defender's thirsts. There are lots of events to make up the festival but the biggest one, up for World Heritage status, is a vague re-enactment of the Templar charge with four blokes, all men as I could see, running alongside an impeccably turned out horse wearing a fancy decorated coat, taking turns to do timed runs up the approach ramp to the castle. There are thousands, and I mean thousands of people on the approach ramp and lots of them have been drinking for a long time by the time the horses start to run. The crowd parts to let the horses through, well that's the idea any way. One bloke hauled me out of the way as I tried, vainly, to get a photo that wasn't too blurred and so badly framed as to be useless. He was quite cross with me. "It might have run you down," he kept saying to the degree that, eventually, I pointed out that it hadn't though. People bumping into me as they fled the horses made it difficult enough to take snaps without somebody saving me as well!

I have to say that the one I probably liked best though was the Romeria. This is the one where some statue of a Saint or a Virgin gets taken from one church to another little church. Sometimes the statues go in carts but usually they go on the backs of the faithful. The last couple we've been to have involved the carrying part followed by a Catholic mass but most people seem to just take it as an opportunity to go for a picnic in the countryside. Lots and lots, and I mean lots, wandering along dusty tracks hauling cool boxes and picnic tables just seems so Spanish and a great way to pass a day.

With a bit of luck though we won't have the opportunity to get to any more fiestas in the next couple of weeks. You can have too much of a good thing.