Relation of Giorgio Gagliardi, Villanueva 2002

Monday 11/02/2002

Lidia and I get up soon and at 9.00 o'clock we are already in the Plaza of Villanueva. The small plaza in Spanish style has been already in typically party for some days. Inside the plaza around 80 people are already all drunk. To reach the plaza we count an infinity of bottles of glass shattered to the ground and note a strong odour of alcohol.

We look for our contact the sig. Jacinto, and we find him at his house. He invites us to enter and greets us with respect. He immediately explains to us that we don't have to worry about the conditions of the donkey that will be engaged in the procession the following day.

He tells us that it is a 4 year-old young donkey, and just for this reason it had been elected to make the whole course inside the narrow streets of the village, and in opposite to the years before he makes us understand that surely this time the course of the animal will last longer. Lidia and I look at each other in silence and we understand that the martyrdom of the poor donkey will last at least 2 hours, (as it will be in fact).

For our physical state of health it is recommended not to even try to take any type of photo, neither of the fellow townsman nor of the donkey. Otherwise he could not protect us from the also violent reaction of the inhabitants, almost all drunk, psychically altered and uncontrollable. It tells us to be very careful and to approach us never to the animal.

Nevertheless Lidia asks to be with Jacinto, in front of the donkey, to be able to check its state of health continually, and to discourage the people to perpetrate deadly gestures towards the donkey (fists and other).

Jacinto complies but he underlines again that she would have to stay in silence and immovable , observing only. He tells us again not to say that we are Italian animalists but only tourists, curious to see the party, and he adds that the international press has spoken very bad of this party and therefore the foreigners are not wanted.

He greets us and we leave, giving appointment for the following day.

Tuesday 12/02/2002

It is 08.45 o'clock in the morning and Lidia and I arrive at the plaza of Villanueva de la Vera. The sun is shining, spring ha come and the climate it is festive. There are already 400 people in the plaza. All of them continue to enter and to go out of 2 inns, with glasses full of wine and liqueurs. They howl and they shout, it is obvious that they are already drunk.

About ten elderly men dressed in historical local suits with a hat and a black mantle, and armed with shotguns, shoot in the air continually; the deafening noise is completed by 15 drummers in suits of epoch. Some have a handkerchief that covers the face, and almost all of them have the faces blackened with coal.

The plaza fills more and more and women and whole school classes of children of all the ages arrive, dressed for the occasion with some celestial aprons with white lines. It is 10.00 o'clock and we hear some vulgar cries come from a street behind the town hall: it is the sign that they are bringing the donkey.

The donkey is surrounded by all sides from at least 50 howling people, and he is ridden by, a boy of about 25 years, completely drunk and at the limits of the unconsciousness. he brandishes a beautiful adult fox holding it at one of the posterior legs, who had died not long ago and is still completely entire. He repeatedly beats it on the head of who is under him, to launch it finally to the feet of the crowd, that after having stamped on it more times, it throws it again to the jockey. He takes it for the tail and beats it with power against the walls of the street.

The donkey has made only few meters, but under the weight of the crowd that tightens it, it already starts to fall down. Once to earth, some men sit on the belly of the animal with all their weight and they throw water on its head to convince it to stand up again. At this point they start to howl and to sing at the top of their voices for some minutes, skipping about, then they pull the donkey by his tail and at the ears until they get it up again.

At this point the jockey repeatedly looses conscious, he is put again on the back of the donkey and the crowd makes him drink other wine and liqueurs. He takes back the fox and beats it, still holding it for the tail, on the walls and on the doors of the houses and on the heads of the people.

The fox is torn to pieces and plenty of blood comes out of the mouth and from other lacerations of the body, squirting anywhere and on the faces of the crowd.

The donkey makes again about ten meters, but the noise is deafening, howls, drums, shots of rifles.

Out of the windows of the narrow streets they launch everything; buckets of water, wine and who knows what else. Meanwhile one of the celebrating people incessantly plays with a trumpet into the ears of the donkey and into those of Lidia, to disorientate them both and to terrorize the animal even more.

The drunk jockey, (and as one of the inhabitants confided me, also under the use of drugs), always swooning again, while they are keeping on passing him straw-covered bottles of wine and liqueurs. The jockey has hallucinated eyes and dilated pupils, and is in a state of semi un consciousness.

I am able to see Lidia, she is in 40 centimetres distance from the donkey but the crowd is so narrow that I don't even see a hair of the animal, although I was in only 5 meters of distance on a little wall.

There are also cameras of a Spanish regional television, but the celebrating people cover the animal with their bodies so that is impossible to make some takes and, as if this was not enough, some of them brandishing some skins of animal and try to cover objectives of the trajectories of resumption.

People howl and seem possessed, while the last rests of the fox are definitely thrown to the ground and stamped on with ferocity. All laugh, they are having a good time and they sing, while to us it seems to live in a circle "dantesco".

Lidia is still in front of the donkey and his look it is horrified, they continually push her then and they try to get her away as far as possible, but she withstands while Jacinto is near her. I mix to some Spanish tourists in civil suits, hiding me behind them, showing myself happy and smiling, and I start furtively to get some photo, but the voice is raised “No No No photo to the donkey “.

I look around and I see the faces of some inhabitants: they are dressed for the party, but they don't participate in the slaughter of the donkey. They look rather worried, that they could not intervene in defence of the animal and with the silence they show their disappointment.

Next to Lidia, a girl of the village, repeatedly caresses the head of the animal and shows suffers for that torture. Only half an hour has passed and the poor animal is already exhausted. It will take another hour and a half until his jailers let it return in the stall, where some of the locals invite us fiercely to photograph the animal and to assure us personally of its conditions, that according to them it is better than before.

It is terrorized by so much and useless wickedness, trembles, and it has bleeding excoriations on the legs, on the head, tail and while I am writing these lines it will still ask itself: why so much anger, and why to him. The jockey is brought away in a state of apparent coma. Also the English animalists visit the donkey. Among them there is a veterinarian that comes every year. They shake their heads, they don't know what to say, try to medicate the donkey at the best and they put him an ointment on the wounds, they caress it, they photograph it, they check the breath of it with the stethoscope, and they still shake their heads, thinking of how many of tortures it can withstand, considering that it is only 4 years old, and this is already the second time.

The party is ended and all the inhabitants continue to stand on the plaza. The inns are crowded, and all drink happily and it has been really………… a beautiful day!!!!!!!