San Isidro Festival - 15th May

It is said that during a year of drought, Isidro de Merlo y Quintana, fearing that his lord Juan de Vargas' harvest would bear no fruits that year, struck the ground with his hoe and out of the ground came a water spring so strong that it supplied the entire city of Madrid. San Isidro was canonized in 1622, becoming the patron saint of Madrid.

Since then, every May 15th Madrid celebrates its great festival, the festival of its patron saint during which fountain water is blessed; the same water, they say, the saint created during the drought.

In the well known neighbourhood of Carabanchel, on paseo Quince de mayo, a chapel in the saint's honour was built in 1528 in the same place where water gushes from the saint´s fountain. Every 15th May, thousands of people from Madrid go back in time to the capital´s most authentic past to pay a tribute to the saint and drink water from the fountain. This is a week of performances, concerts, competitions, processions, festivals, but above all, if there is one thing that has given the festivity dedicated to the saint its worldwide fame. It is its bullfighting party. The Plaza de las Ventas bullring, the biggest in Spain and second biggest in the world, stages bullfights throughout the week starring famous bullfighters of the day. Many are those who suffer long queues at the bullring entrances to get the best tickets and enjoy one of the most prestigious bullfighting afternoons in the world.

However the San Isidro Festival would not be the same without its pure Castilians, in other words, without its well known "chulapos" and "chulapas". The Prado del Santo fills with these somewhat nostalgic true Madrid locals, who dressed up in the typical costumes, spend the day dancing face to face, to the rhythm of the traditional "chotis" folk dance played by street organs. The men wear black trousers, grey checked jacket, waistcoat, checked cap, white handekerchief round their necks, a red carnation in their lapels and a cigarette skilfully placed in their mouth. The ladies wear frilly dresses, the traditional Manila shawl and a handkerchief and red carnation gracefully dressing their heads.

These significant festival personalities mingle with the street organ players, who play their smail music boxes and with the "barquilleros" who sell small sweet delicacies mainly made with flour and sugar. Madrid folk also enjoy the typical fun fair with a big wheel as the main attraction and late night festivals and processions alongside the Manzanares River and a procession of of firees. Giants and figures with huge heads (cabezudos) are alsomain stars at the festival that finishes with an impressive display of fireworks. Without a doubt the San Isidro fair attemps to upkeep its religious and true Castilian traditions, and quite successfully so, with its increasingly diverse, true Madrid style festivities.