Comments | mister_greywolf: Pobre de Mi

mister_greywolf

Pobre de Mi

Jul 15, 2009 16:13

The fiesta finished at midnight last night. Traditionally at this time the people dancing behind the bands in the street will kneel and press their foreheads against the ground, singing "pobre de mi". "Poor me" - another year until the fiesta starts again. This can go on for some time ( Read more... )

travel, san fermin

Comments 6

What a crowd!. mr_stubbly July 15 2009, 17:25:40 UTC

Am I just unaware or has this festival grown to be an enormous event since I first began seeing film clips of it years ago?

The sheer numbers of people clogging those streets. It must be a city gone mad.

I wish I was there!
Lucky Bastard!

Re: What a crowd!. mister_greywolf July 16 2009, 15:14:58 UTC

the city gives itself over to the fiesta for 8 days. it's exciting, and not always pretty. it is a unique experience, and to my mind highlights differences between the latin and the anglo approaches to life.

sirje July 15 2009, 20:34:28 UTC

So did you live in Spain or something?

mister_greywolf July 16 2009, 14:58:22 UTC

no, i never lived in spain, but went to the fiesta 9 times. learned enough spanish for barroom conversations - and i love nearby san sebastian/donostia, too.

pamplona also lots of history ... roncesvalles is the pass through the pyrennees above pamplona. here in 778 the basques ambushed charlemagne's rearguard in retaliation for his demolition of their city walls. this incident was written up as "la chanson de roland" (the song of roland), the oldest known epic old french poem. it is historically inaccurate, of course, and presents the defeat as a result of treachery. it predates the writing of arthurian legends, and was a basis for later "chivalry" amongst frankish/french knights.

sirje July 16 2009, 19:53:37 UTC

Ohh, I had to read the Song of Roland back in my comp. lit. days. To be honest, that stuff is all the same to me - it could be Scandinavian, Chinese, Roman, English, whatever, and I'll see no difference. They fight and go macho, hurray. This may make me ignorant and a lousy literature lover, but... so be it.

mister_greywolf July 17 2009, 13:48:00 UTC

ya, most of those epics are about warlords killing a lot of people, regardless of country/culture. (did you know that chimpanzees make war on each other?)

if you don't believe in heroes (no, i don't) then the interest is probably in languages/linguistics with these things ... hmm ... and maybe what they reveal about human nature.