When we arrived in the Spanish town of Sanlucar on the Guadiana it was in the middle of a four day festival. We took part as onlookers while getting our bearings.
No sooner was that over but Alcoutim on the Portuguese side had its May day “festival of the sardines”. We took a full part in that along with the crew of “Maud” : Ron, Ken and Sian who we knew from Portimao. The main event was a feast of Sardines with music and dancing. Families brought along their own picnics and wine to eat under shade on tables and benches provided by the town.
The next event was the Spanish Romeria. This is a traditional festival where two towns, in this case Sanlucar and the nearby Granada, parade to meet together in a neutral location in the countryside. The Parade is made up of floats, led by those of the churches, followed by the beautifully costumed ladies and horsemen and women.
The venue was about two acres of scrub and trees with dirt roads and clearings surrounded by small makeshift marques and tents. These were referred to as cassettas and were set up by a family or group from an area or workplace. Generally they have a bar set up with cooking facilities tables and benches.
We had started the day badly, working on Portuguese time we missed the start of the parade by an hour and ended up walking several Km in the baking sun trying to catch up. A kind Spanish couple then gave us a lift, without any English they understood we were also going to the Romeria. We knew that the Portuguese town of Alcoutim were operating a cassetta. When we found it, desperate for a drink, a girl from the municipal office explained to us that the event was essentially a private affair. Nothing was for sale. You have to be invited to enter a cassetta. It is then polite to do so and partake in food and drink, but nothing is for sale and nothing paid for.
When the parades arrived from the two towns the place livened up. (see above.) Very informal the day went by with the horsemen and women parading and showing off their beautiful horses. Horse drawn carriages with the grandly dressed ladies would also circulate. Many of the horsemen displayed their skill with dressage type manoeuvres; mindboggling how they communicate the moves to the horses. For all the horsemen’s macho performances however I reckon the lady ridding at full gallop side saddle in a flamenco dress stole the show!
Those on horseback would stay in the saddle and be handed up drinks as they visited each other’s cassetta. As the day progressed so did the bravado of the increasingly inebriated horseman. However it was all well natured and Yvonne only once fell off her seat to take shelter from a huge horse and drunken rider that was bearing down on us. Nobody else seemed to think the horse was out of order, they were however confused by Yvonne shriek!
We were in the course of the day invited to two other cassetta's fed and provided with beer and wine. No English was spoken so communication was limited but we were made very welcome. The Alcoutim team excelled themselves throughout the day, not only feeding us beautiful meats and wine but also providing a lift in the minibus back to Sanlucar at midnight. Despite trying the whole day we still hadn’t spent a cent!
A remarkable and truly wonderful experience, we could not claim to take part, but we did feel privileged to watch from the inside.