Donkey race in Elgeta

Elgeta is a small village up in the mountains, where people do strange traditional things as part of their village fiestas...



they bring their wild donkeys down from their farmhouses once per year...





They dress up the village band in red and white and let them walk around the village causing an incedible racket with all kinds of drums and trumpets...




They dress themselves up in the traditional costumes, (some of the little ones usually hate it because they are not allowed to roll around on the floor... but they sure look pretty!)

And then they set an old man on a Vespa motorbike as a pacemaker, just as in Formula 1, some young boys get onto the confused donkeys, and...

...race them around the (very small) village twice with a lot of shouting and clapping and laughing and riders falling off and donkeys running into the next bar in an attempt to escape the chaos!

It's incredibly funny to watch - 4 people to move one donkey...

And the winner gets a sack of donkey-food! So you see, a holiday in te Basque Country, especially in June / July, is full of high-level, enertaning activities... (we do something very similar with young bulls here in this area, just in case someone is interested).