La Tamborrada Drum Festival
San Sebastian's famous La Tamborrada Drum Festival is without doubt one of the loudest festivals in Spain.
La Tamborrada usually takes place on January 19th-20th in San Sebastian, Donostia, in the Basque land of Spain for one day only. From the evening of the 19th to midnight on the 20th the streets of San Sebastian fill with many gastronomic societies from San Sebastian marching in uniform all bidding to outdo each other all in honor of their patron saint, the Donostia of San Sebastian.
It all begins in Plaza de la Constitution and marches all the way to the Old City of San Sebastian. This Spanish drums festival is an intensely noisy fiesta lasting 24 hours.
La Tamborrada Drum Festival goes back to when the French occupied the Basque country. The French soldiers would play their drums when they were on the charge. One day as they did so in 1720 a baker, who was filling water barrels from a fountain near the Church of San Vicente in San Sebastian, began to sing, and a group of young girls passing by started banging on the barrels as an accompaniment. A crowd started to gather and this drum beating knees up which has evolved over almost 300 years into the spectacle you see today.
It also gave rise to Raimundo Sarriegui who created the masterpiece the "March of San Sebastian" which is played to this day.
Where to Stay
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Getting There
You have the option of either booking a flight to Bilboa or Pamplona or into the French town of Biarritz
On arrival you may consider hiring a car, book a train ticket or book a bus ticket to get you to your final destination.