This photo, which I found in the NFS Flickr Group, completely sums up the joys of a Spanish summer fiesta. I thought it was just what’s needed on a cold winter’s day (in Madrid it’s pretty cold anyway!) The photo was taken by pikaluk, whose partner David explains here what is going on:

“We were in Spain in 2002 and just happened across the festival in Bilbao. It centred around the town hall and I think there was some tradition of using the large mannequins (are they called ‘geants’?) to rush the first-floor, the winning team being the first to get their giant inside, up the stairs and out onto the balcony overlooking the square. Everyone was spraying fizzy wine of some sort (doubt it was champagne) over each other and hurling flour. It was exceedingly good-natured – bit of a surprise for me, never having been to Spain before, expecting any large near-riot to turn nasty and instead just finding it fun. It was just before Batasuna was proscribed – or just after -and the Batasuna HQ was on the square, and there was a vaguely political tinge to the affair.”