Horses and donkeys rushed to cross various bonfires, in the heart of the winter night, as a purification rite to prevent the animals from getting sick: this is the tradition revived this year in San Bartolomé de Pinares, a small town in the center of Spain, after the Covid pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s edition.
A party – deeply felt by the local population and also known in other areas of the Iberian country and abroad – once again immortalized in spectacular nocturnal images of horses, mounted by jockeys, amidst the flames lit in the streets of the town (located in the province of Ávila ). The tradition was staged on the eve of the day of San’tAntonio Abate, patron saint of animals in Spain.
As reported by the Efe news agency, the masks usually used by the public to protect eyes and face from the smoke of the bonfires this time also served as an anti-Covid measure. Although many people appreciate the ritual, which would have begun in the eighteenth after an epidemic that affected the animals in the area, there is no lack of controversy: animal rights activists have in fact repeatedly pronounced themselves against the ritual of making horses and donkeys cross the flames .
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