La Tamborrada Festival

Month : December
Place : San Sebastian
Famous For : Traditional Festival
Attractions : Overnight Druns, Parades, Children Parades, Dresses of Soldiers.

The festival of La Tamborrada is a popular traditional festival celebrated in city of San Sebastian. It is organized every year on 20 January as the feast of Saint Sebastian. The people of the city mark this occasion to remember San Sebasti"n. The mayor raises the flag of San Sebastian at midnight, in the Konstituzio Plaza in the "Alde Zaharra/Parte Vieja". The celebration finishes when the city flag is lowered at different spots, while the main meeting point remains the Konstituzio Plaza.

Major Attractions

The festival of La Tamborrada originated from locals mocked the marching soldiers stationed in the city by aping their daily procession from the San Telmo headquarters to the Main Gate at the city walls ("Puerta de Tierra"), using for the purpose buckets and hardware from the water-pump. Nowadays, the celebration of La Tamborrada festival involves grand scales. For 24 hours, day and night, the entire city is awash with the sound of drums. The adults, dressed as cooks and soldiers, march in different companies across various parts of the city with different schedules. After hearing drums all night, children wake up with a version of the Tamborrada for kids. Children dress traditionally as soldiers and march around the city. Children from all the schools of San Sebasti"n march that day. They have their specific costumes which usually represent a particular country (England, Germany, Romania, etc).