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Music Festivals |
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Festival Internacional de Títeres
Barrainkua, 5
(Casa de Cultura de Barrainkua)
Bilbao, 48009
Telephone Number: +34 944 24 59 02
Fax Number: +34 944 24 25 50
During the Festival Internacional de Títeres, several types of flamboyant puppetry are on exhibition.
All types of puppetry are highlighted and given importance during this festival, including glove, stick, shadow and bunranku. The festival attracts thousands of local and foreign tourists from all over the world and the shows can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. The festival is carried on with a series of free activities, such as exhibitions and tributes to famous puppet show producers. Stages are set up in Bilborock - La Merced Theatre, Barrainkua Cultural Centre and El Carmen Theatre.
Festival Internacional de Cine Documental y Cortometraje de Bilbao - Zinebi
Colón de Larreátegui, 37
Bilbao, 48009
Telephone Number: +34 944 24 86 98
Fax Number: +34 944 24 56 24
For more than four decades already, this short film and documentary festival has fully matured in status and reputation, made evident by the growing number of film entries every year. Naturally, the number of spectators also multiply and have come as far as from other nations. Fiction is the predominant genre of film entries.
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Below is a detailed calendar of events for Bilbao and its neighboring cities:
January
Every 19th to 20th of January, the Tamborrada is celebrated. This is the day of the ‘pincushion saint,’ and it is celebrated with a loud and lively parade of drummers through the streets, commencing on the midnight of the 19th. Legend has it that the custom originated around the town when a crowd of locals started banging on the buckets they were waiting to fill.
February
Carnaval Festival in Bilbao usually starts on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, continuing through to Shrove Tuesday, which is 47 days before Easter Sunday (Sundays don't count in the 40-day fast). There are celebrations everywhere; San Sebastián starts early and is energetic for the whole period, and so are Vitoria and Tolosa, where the Sunday festivities are considered the liveliest in Euskadi. More traditional carnivals can be seen in smaller towns such as Salvatierra and Zalduondo in Alava, and Markina in Vizcaya.
The St. Blas Fiesta is one of its kind as well. This festival is seized in honor of St. Blas, a saint who is famous in curing throat infections. To memorialize this saint, the church of San Nicolas remembers his curing powers by way of a festival that commences on February 3 each year, and carries on for the next nine days. The church itself is the center of all the festivities, which also extend to the Old Town.
March or April
Semana Santa (Easter week) is very much a celebrated activity throughout the region. Bilbao marks the occasion with a number of processions accompanied by mournful drums and cornets, from Passion Friday onwards.
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June
Getxo Blues Festival is celebrated every year on the second week of June in the Plaza Santa Eugenia. This is a vigorous fiesta, and is celebrated the most in the Guipúzcoan town of Segura.
On the 24th of June, the San Juan Festival is celebrated in several places aside from Bilbao, particularly Tolosa and Laguardia. On the eve of the festival, bonfires are lit in several villages, reminiscent of pre-Christian peak summer season celebrations.
July
On the first week of July, the Getxo Jazz festival is celebrated.
Virgen del Carmen is commemorated every year on the 16th of July. During this festival, effigies of the Lady Virgen del Carmen are carried out to sea in a scenic march of fishing boats, mainly at the Plentzia and Santurtzi, on either side of the Bilbao estuary.
August
August is the major month for Basque festivals. The whole month of August is filled with major festivals from all the Basque cities.
· Fiesta de la Virgen Blanca is celebrated every 4th up to the 9th of August in Vitoria. The city's major knees-up comes thoroughly recommended.
· Getaria celebrates the Festival of San Salvador every 7th of August. Every four years a re-enactment of the landing of Elkano is staged (next one in 2007).
· Festival of San Nicolás is celebrated on the 12th of August in the quaint old port of Getxo.
· The Aste Nagusia is celebrated a week before the 15th of August. It is also famous as the “big week” and it kicks off in San Sebastián with world-renowned fireworks presentation.
· The major fiestas of Gernika and Markina are on the 15th and 16th of August. Bilbao's celebration for the “big week” is on the Saturday after the 15th of August. During this festival, an animated fusion of everything can be seen in Bilbao such as concerts, corridas, traditional Basque sports, and some serious drinking.
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September
· Euskal Jaiak is celebrated during the first week of September. It is a festivity of Basque crafts, culture and food. It is also another excuse to stuff yourself with San Sebastián, as food is of abundance during this time.
· International folk festival is also on the first week of September in Getxo.
· Fiesta of the Virgen de Guadalupe is on the 8th of September in Hondarribia, memorializing her crucial involvement in the 1639 battle.
· San Miguel's day is on the 29th of September, celebrated in Oñati and Markina with dancing and bountiful consumption of San Miguel Beer of course.
October
· Parade and the Aurresku is commemorated on the first Sunday of October in Ellorio. It is a celebration of a traditional dance in Elorrio.
· Harvest time in the Rioja Alavesa is a happy season with much celebration, and is highlighted during the first week of October.
November
· Horror film festival is on the first and last week of November in San Sebastián.
December
Vitoria is known for its impressive full-sized Nativity scene displaying over 200 figures. On the weekend before Christmas, the character Olentzero, a charcoal seller, announces the approach of Christmas in Basque towns and villages. The locals of San Sebastián ascend to the Monte Igueldo on the 24th of December with an image of a besugo (sea bream). An open-air midnight mass is held on the 24th of December in Labastida in the Rioja Alavesa.
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Bilbao > Music Festivals
