BACKGROUND OF THE RIAU-RIAU

The 6th of July is the eve of the saint's day. The day of San Fermin is of course, the 7th of July. This parade of the municipal corporation is an old tradition whereby they visit the relics of the saint which are kept in the church of San Lorenzo all year, on the eve of his feastday.

Back in 1914, an out-and-out "Carlista" (those who traditionally support a "pretender king" to the Spanish throne), called Ignacio Baleztena, organized a crowd to impede the parade of the Town Hall because they wouldn't support the "Pretender" to the throne. The event took on and subsequently took place every year thereafter, even if there were no specific political reasons for it. The idea is, above all, just to annoy the authorities, whoever they may be. It has always been a contentious point with the local authorities and they first tried to prohibit the event in 1927. The Mayor that year issued a ban and called it an "uncultured event" and "improper act".

But all in vain, as the people were determined to keep up the tradition. The only noticeable gap took place between 1932-1936 when there was a Republic state in Spain and the practise of all religious events by politicans was prohibited. During those years the parade by the Corporation did not take place.

Since 1965 the lenght of time taken to cover the route increased dramatically. Indeed the whole point of the thing was to ensure it took ages to cover the short route an to try the patience of the Town Councillors to the maximum. In 1972 it was suspended for the first time when after 45 minutes the members of the Town Hall had only managed to cover the first few meters. In 1980 the Town Councillors took 5 hours and 25 minutes to cover the route which on a normal day would be a five-minute walk. Since then it has been suspended practically every year and definitively in 1990.