This Saturday morning, still with a hangover after a night of gunpowder and fire, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the San Sebastian procession, as a prelude to San Ildefonso on Tuesday 23rd January.
«Everything will be the same, the two processions are repeated with identical similarities because they are the patron saints of our town», assured the mayor of Olula del Río, born in Calle Santiago number 50, as the mayor likes to remember.
The night of the wheelbarrows has had a record turnout and this Saturday was no exception as the procession attracted a number of people like we have not seen for years.
«The weather has allowed the clouds to open up and the procession of our saints to take place, but if San Sebastián brings rain, which is much needed, welcome,» says the mayor.
In Olula del Río there is no rest, «we don’t finish seeing the back of Baltasar, when the patron saint fiestas are coming», says Pascual, for whom the fiestas, declared of National Tourist Interest in Andalusia, are an attraction for many local residents who these days share bread, lights and carts «all in permitted places, with thousands of approved carts that can only be sold by the leaders of the Peña San Sebastián, the undisputed protagonist of the fiesta».
Days of festivities, friends and contained emotions, are what lie ahead for the Olulenses, who finish the celebrations this coming Tuesday, a local holiday.