The festival of San Isidro
The festival of San Isidro does not take place in Frigiliana but in Nerja and Maro.
I have included it here
because it is such a rich example
of local tradition, religion and riotous sense of fun - fueled by considerable
quantities of almost every alcoholic drink available.
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Background to the San Isidro festival
Legend has it that San Isidro was a poor peasant farmer and he and his wife Santa Marķa de la Cabeza were very popular due to their generosity, especially giving food to the poor. As is often the case the good farmer was canonised and San Isidro became the patron saint of the peasants and laborers.
Every year on the 15th May the whole of Nerja celebrates San Isidro in ebullient style. If you intend participating
in this celebration it is advisable to arrive at the Nerja caves early. It is also useful to get a good long sleep the night before, because the drinking, dancing, eating and singing rarely stops before dawn.
The timing and sequence of the procession
The day starts with a special mass at the church of San Salvador on the Balcon de Europa.
The procession then makes its way along the pretty coast road to Maro and the park that surrounds the caves.
There is a strict sequence in which men women, animals and vehicles participate.
First to depart, and first to arrive at
the caves are the splendid thoroughbred Andalucian horses, riden by proud owners in traditional dress, frequently with an attractive senora perched side saddle on the back, feet crossed and smiling.
As the last of the horsemen tether their mounts and make their way to the bar, colourful carts drawn by huge oxen stamp and snort their way into view.
The animals look magnificent, with their colourful head-dresses and hides the colour of polished mahogany
 The oxen are directed by their owners, large men with broad beamed straw hats.
Somehow they manage to fine tune the speed and direction of these huge beasts that, during the week, plough the fields in a manner unchanged for centuries.
There seems no end to this procession. After two hours of horses and oxen trundling colourful carts up the road, still more participants arrive.
Of course the consumption of alcohol increases in direct proportion to the hours spent travelling, and the carts seem to become louder, more raucous and the laughter more emphatic.
 Some are now armed with water pistols, sniping at the applauding on-lookers.
After the horses and the oxen come the motorised vehicles, hundreds of them; tractors, dumper trucks, lorries, vans, wagons, all decorated and disguised by colourful drapes, ribbons and sheets
Finally, the remaining participants struggle into view, fuelled by alcohol, enhanced by the strong sun; some of the men sway a little and some of the women totter in their unfamiliar shoes.
 It's been about four hours since the first horsemen arrived and now everyone enters the bars and restaurants which have been erected around the park, and continues to eat and drink and, when the bands start playing, dance and sing and eat and drink for the next few hours.
The morning after the night before
 Next door but one to our apartment building is a small bar and restaurant
The photo on the right was taken from the apartment balcony.
It shows a returning farmer, early the next morning, tethering his oxen before going into the bar for a restorative brandy or two.
Just minutes before, someone helped him attach the plough to the oxen, so once refreshed he can start work again on his farm.
San isidro is a feria not to be missed!
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