Community Spirit, March 2018

Darren: “Not always but for the majority of
the time yes, and some of them are massive!
They are also cleverly constructed from
timber frames, wire, paper mache and
shaped with polystyrene.”
Richard: “So, who finances it?”
Darren: “The local governmen. Well, there
are some small groups locally that don’t
support it as passionately as the majority.
You can and will see small groups protesting
at times for various reasons. For instance,
some don’t understand why so much is
spent on the festival when money could go
to other causes. But the argument is about
tourism and how much money is generated
because of the event.”
Richard: “But then of course the people like
to have a festival and like to celebrate,
especially here when they’ve been working
away so hard.. What is it that people say
here ‘Siesta and Fiesta!”
Darren: “Exactly, I totally agree, no siesta,
no fiesta!”
Richard: “So it’s financed by the local
government, right?”
Darren: “Yeah, well not firework display. They have their own monuments, you
can walk through a small lane by the historic centre, and see something tiny,
like the size of a chair.”
Richard: “What are the themes that they used for building the monuments?”
Darren: “They are all topics of satire, political, local, national and international
press. I saw a good one the other day of Trump dressed up as Napoleon. He had
2 puppets in his hands, one was Putin and the other was Kim Jong Un.”
Darren: “Yes but organised by each of the
local casels. Me and my wife have just joined
one, it’s quite exciting. It’s in our
neighbourhood. They welcome anyone
International, which is very nice. We meet
between 8pm and 9pm every Tuesday and
have drinks and pay into a lottery. They have
given us the first year free then it’s 16€ per
month.”
Richard: “So, that goes into?”
Richard: “They are actually public figures?”
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