La Tamborrada 2019

Well, it is that time of year again. Time for the 24-hour drumming festival known as La Tamborrada, which celebrates San Sebastian Day. (If you missed our experiences during our first Tamborrada, you can check them out in our January 27, 2018, post)

This year, we decided not to join the mosh pit at midnight in Constitution Plaza to see the raising of the city flag, which marks the beginning of everything. Instead, we got a good night's sleep (we are fortunate to live in a part of the city without bands playing at all hours), and set out at a reasonable hour on Sunday to observe the festivities. We saw a bit of the main kids'parade, but bypassed most of that to see what was happening in and near the old part of the city (la Parte Vieja). Over 8,000 kids participated this year in these parades.

We headed out on our favorite walk around the sea wall behind the old city. Although it was raining when we left our place, it had cleared up a lot and we had a beautiful walk. The sea was very rough, which is normal in the winter, and Shana got a great shot of the city and the sea:

On re-entering the old city, we encountered this band in front of the one of the city's oldest churches:

You can't actually see how many drummers there are in this one band -- that's not all of them. Most adorably, though, they were being aided by this future Tamborrada drum major:

We went to grab some pintxos and drinks and were joined by one of the band members -- apparently, drumming is thirsty work:

After refueling, we made our way to Constitution Plaza where there is a stage and a schedule of bands throughout the event. We were just in time to see a really enthusiastic band who even had a couple of people on horses (not on stage):

As you can see, everyone is in high spirits even if they do play the same songs over and over again (a schoolmate in a band told us that they learn 10 songs for Tamborrada, but we think they play about three songs 90% of the time). Oh, by the way, the numerous adult bands include over 18,000, participants, which, combined with the kids' bands, means that over 26,000 people  participate in the Tamborrada. One of Shana's yoga instructors, Sarah, is in this band and is even in the third picture. We discovered this because it turns out that Shana is in one of her pictures taken from the stage with the first row of spectators in the background. 

After making our way home, we got to enjoy some other bands as they made their way through our neighborhood. Fortunately for everyone involved, Monday was holiday in San Sebastian so most people did not have to work and we did not have school. Although we've come to the conclusion that the participants enjoy Tamborrada the most, we doubt we'll be taking up the sticks in time for next year. We do however have several talented nephews who could easily fit right in based on their drumming and trombone skills.  

Another fun San Sebastian celebration.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana