after a very short three day week of school, we were once again released into the city to celebrate pilares. the square was filled daily with hundreds of people, ranging from babies to grandparents, celebrating at concerts, dance performances, and everything in-between. the city truly came alive, and for five days it never slept. on saturday (october 11th) a few other sya students and i woke up at 6am to go watch las vaquillas. we showed up just in time to find out that all the tickets had been sold, but we were lucky enough to receive free tickets from a peña, a group of families/friends that have a special color and symbol. the spaniards participating in the bull fight had stayed up all night drinking and by 8am had reached a point of complete exhaustion mixed with just enough liquid courage to think it was a good idea to tease bulls. the stadium was packed and there was so much cheering you couldn’t hear yourself think. there were ambulances waiting outside the stadium to help carry out anyone injured, they were no novices.

sunday was the official day of pilar, which included la ofrenda de flores, several jota dances, and people everywhere. thousands of flowers were stacked in a pyramidal structure as an offering to the virgin of pilar. people waited in line for hours, dressed in the traditional clothing of aragón, to give their flowers, and, of course, there was a parade touring the city.