History
of the Haro Wine Festival
The Haro Wine Festival is one of
the most major wine festivals in Spain and was pronounced a festival of
touristic and national interest in 1965.
Introduction
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| Plaza Major, Haro |
The Haro Wine festival is
celebrated yearly in La Rioja region of northern Spain. The famous town from
where the festival originated is called Haro and it is know for its high
quality Rioja Vino and his yearly battle of wine (La Batalla de Vino)
celebration which takes place every year on the 29th of June, Saint
Peter’s Day (El dia de San Pedro). It is one of the most major wine festivals
in Spain and it was declared a festival of touristic and national interest in
1965. From 2004, a different type of special wine battle festival was started
for young Children.
History of the Haro Wine festival
It dates back to the 12th
century to a land dispute between the people of Haro and the neighboring
village, Miranda del Ebro. King Ferdinand the
Third of Castille would finally solve the issue in 1237 via an
executive letter which would later served the Judge Sancho Martinez de Leiva as
a legal basis for establishing the legal boundaries between the two neighboring
cities. The Judge Sancho also instructed that Haro’s town officials mark their
properties lines with the town’s purple banners every year on San Pedro’s Day
as well as the first Sunday of each September. If they failed to complete the
task, the land would then belong to Miranda del Ebro. To ensure the completion
of the task, a procession to the Bilibio cliffs was organized on every 29th
June. The battle seemed to have occurred around 1710 for the first time. Based
on the records after attending the mass and worshipping San Pedro the patron
saint, a celebration broke out in which people started throwing wine at each
other; and this is how the famous tradition started and would later gain a huge
popularity in the decade of 1945-1955. During that time the tradition was named
“war of Wine” which would eventually be changed to the battle of the wine in
1965.
The Haro wine festival nowadays
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| Haro Wine Festival |
These days, the Haro Town attracts
many tourists for the festival, its famous quality of Tapas and the fact they
are the major vine producer in the area who joined the locals to start the
festivities under way a week before the battle itself. On the day itself, a
parade of Horsemen leads everyone the 7km up to the Hermitage of San Felices de
Bilibio, where a flag is ceremonially placed and a mass celebrated and then the
battle can start. Many wear white at the
beginning of the fight and everyone holds containers such as jugs, bottles,
buckets, water pistols or hose pipes until the whole crowd turn pink. It is
recommended to not wear your best clothes as you will be everyone’s target. It
will go on until midday around noon, then everybody go back to the city. In the
Plaza de la Paz the celebration continues where people eat, dance, and compete
each other and drinking. Then in the evening the Haro wine festival bullfights
will take place in the town’s bullring. But the bulls used are female heifers
known as “vaquillas”, smaller than the male ones and less dangerous.
You
can reach Haro by driving or by bus which will take around 4-6 hours depending
on the traffic. Or you can take a plane from Madrid to Bilbao, and then from
there you can take a cab or drive it will take 2 hours in minimum. The last
option would be to take the trains which are connected to the town, such as
Logrono and Victoria.
Spain
has quite a few wildly exuberant festivals, where people end up getting covered
in everything from tomatoes to mud. Amongst all these, though, the Haro Batalla
del Vino still stands out as being totally crazy, unadulterated, fabulous fun.
