Fiestas of Pilar and the Gaita
It’s hard to conceive that, with the world so geographically distant from one part to another, especially in Medieval times, that there is so much commonality of items and customs from one country to another.
Take as an example the Irish bagpipe, which is so prevalent in the songs sung by the Irish.
It turns out that there is an analog to the bagpipe in the northern part of Spain, from Aragon to Galicia, and it is called the gaita. Its sound is rather similar to a standard bagpipe and its appearance is pretty close as well. It is used in the same way a bagpipe is used and produces an almost identical sound. The gaita de boto, a bagpipe native to Aragon, is distinctive for its tenor drone running parallel to the chanter.
The Traditional Gaita Played in Aragon, Spain
In Zaragoza, the Fiestas del Pilar are an annual festival celebrated throughout the city in honor of the patron saint, the Virgen del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar). The week-long festival takes place every year, usually, beginning the weekend of or before 12 October, and lasts until the following Sunday. All business and most of the shops close for the entire week.
A wide variety of events are organized by the City Hall, with private companies and organizations organizing their own sponsored events, shows, contests, parades and other activities. This is accompanied with much eating and drinking throughout the city as well. Many of the rabble-rousers will stay up for days at a time celebrating.
Veneration of the Blessed Virgin in Zaragoza can be traced to at least the 12th century. The national holiday of Spain, first introduced in 1918 and confirmed for the contemporary Spanish state in 1982, falls on 12 October, chosen for the date of the discovery of the Americas.
Flowers Presented to the Virgin of the Pilar During the her Feast Day
Throughout the day of October 12th, thousands of people, dressed in traditional Medieval peasant costumes, leave flowers at the statue of the Virgin, which has a place of honor in the middle of the Plaza de Pilar. There, an army of volunteers arrange flowers in a pyramidal form, creating a flower mantle around the base of the statue, which remains in the square for the duration of the festival for public viewing. People can participate in the flower offering individually, or as a group. Typically, groups are organized by schools, companies, villages and other entities, and they organize their own parades around the local streets and neighborhoods ending up at the main square.
The popularity of the Offering of Flowers in Zaragoza is evidenced by the large number of groups that take part each year. In 2009, a record number of 450,000 people took part in the flower parade.
The Flower Offering tradition was launched as part of the festival starting back in 1958.
Throughout the city, stages are erected where local schools, surrounding towns’ people and social groups can play music and perform for the viewers. There are typical historic dances modeled after the medieval dances where participants dress in traditional clothes and dance to traditional songs.
This is where I focused in on a familiar sound, I asked my cousin if he heard a bagpipe being played by one of the bands, which to me seemed out of place. Shouldn’t that be played in Scotland I asked? He informed me that the instrument was called a gaita in Spain and that it is commonly used in traditional, regional dances.
It turns out that centuries ago, through marauding soldiers and sailors, and just the general migration of the Scottish throughout the southwestern part of Europe the bagpipe was introduced to the people of Northern Spain. It was adopted and used in traditional Spanish songs, establishing itself as a permanent member of the Medieval instrumentation for regional bands. And it’s still used today.
We are much more united and closer than we think!
