Once again, it was party time in Oviedo this week. Beginning over the last weekend and culminating in a holiday on Tuesday, was the festival of La Balesquida. This festival coincides with Pentecost. It celebrates the gift of a hospital and other real estate to, essentially, Oviedo (actually a local guild), by doña Velasquita Giraldez in 1232. We did our best to take part in the festivities. More after the jump.
It's truly unbelievable. Another week has passed and another festival in Oviedo has come and gone. This time, it was a combination celebration of Pentecost and a donation of real estate to the people of Oviedo many moons ago
. The festival is organized by La Balesquida Antigua Cofradía de Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, or just La Balesquida for short. They are a religious group that organizes the annual celebration of Pentecost and also does some social work. One of the highlights of the celebration: the organization hands out chorizo stuffed bread and bottles of wine to all its members on the Tuesday after Pentecost. What better way to celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit than by eating some good sausage and drinking some good wine?
Anyway, the Tuesday celebration is the biggest part of this festival. Everyone heads out to the San Francisco park, where the food is handed out, and there are musical groups, marching bands of all sorts, street performers, a massive installation of places for kids to play, and lots of vendors selling various goods (some of which looked very familiar from our earlier trips to Ecuador).
We joined in. We had to buy our bread with chorizo since we're not members of the organization (we were far from alone). And we laid a blanked on the grass and just enjoyed the beautiful day, watching all the people, and listening to the music. Oh, and a really important facet of public celebrations in at least this part of Spain. Public consumption of alcohol is no problem. People were drinking wine, some had gallons of sangria, others had cases of beer, whatever. Just drinking as they pleased in the park. And I don't think there was any special dispensation just because it was Pentecost! You can do that anytime here. I think a bunch of pictures probably best sums up the day. So here you go.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihuzOBNOyVjy77XQc_MQy-Cz1A7y1gEbsz4r02yMxt5i5mHkTJ9fMPFpXF3cYkqEoUR2f0lyJdOe0qoXKJVvvrI7qlkMNMOfxtJu11zgx_U19k5tn3zptmXhy-_EVsbj8MhZ_t_YVD1G0/s1600/DSC05830.JPG) |
The Little Lady Guarding the Bollos |
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The Town Band Performed |
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The Bagpipe Band (Really!) Marched |
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A Look Inside the Bollo |
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Handing Out the Bread |
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Handing Out the Wine |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHI37ox3XOTBY7uGeuaVhtQIBfkMMLF41S6KB5bJ9y2Z0CLV4ByXQK0sYmywujU6abRPkq93RJnuS1mvx5s-Vrv6fLCpBGU-NGIXuYjqwG8fAAbcl8VRBdo0YIU2CCLQ5Rz6QYjH-1rWw/s1600/DSC05820.JPG) |
The Park Before Things Really Got Going |
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They Started with a Youth Chess Tournament on Saturday |
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