#chotis

So, first some context (I’m an atheist and I didn’t attend Religion class when I was little, so all I’m gonna tell you it’s from when we celebrated San Isidro at school and they told us the story so it might not be perfectly accurate).

San Isidro is the saint of the farmers (in fact, his full name is “San Isidro Labrador”, which translates to “Saint Isidore Cropper / Tiller / Farmer”). His story starts with him as a very religious farmer. There are two parts in his legend. The first one was that, during a drought, he prayed to the Virgin Mary and she nurtured the land and all the crops flourished and what not. The second part is more known and interesting. One day, his son was playing by a well (you see where this is going, right?). Of course, the kid fell on the well, Isidro prayed, and God or the Virgin Mary (idk honestly) rescued him.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s go to the interesting part. The main focus of this festivity is the Pradera de San Isidro (”San Isidro Prairie”)

Sorry for my editing skills, I’m not really the best when it comes to technology stuff. So, as you can see, the prairie (called “parque” or “park” here) is close to the Manzanares River and the former Atlético de Madrid Stadium, the Vicente Calderón, and it also has a space for the fair (”feria”) that stands up during San Isidro, and also a building in the north, the “ermita”  (”shrine”), where there’s an image of San Isidro and one of the central parts of the festivity, the Fountain of San Isidro. Legend says that San Isidro created it (somehow) and it has the ability of heal all problems and illnesses, so it’s become a tradition to go on the 15th to the shrine and drink from it. Of course, there’s always a really large queue for one sip (I really find it funny that water is so important in the main festivity on Madrid, because one of the most stereotypical madrileño things is being proud of our tap water, which is the best of Spain (objectively, of course)).

Here are some photos of the prairie and the shrine from Google Maps (I would put mine but they are really shitty so they wouldn’t help at all):

Okay, that’s the location, but how it’s the day? 

Let’s start with the typical clothing, the “chulapo / a” suit / dress. I present you now with a photo of me and my sister when we were little to see how they look like (I promise you there’s a difference between chulapa and flamenco dresses, they are actually pretty different):

The flowers we have on are “claveles” (carnations) which are the most important flower in Madrid (and I would say of Spain, but I think they are not that significant in other parts of the country). Also, I remember many girls of my class dressing with the chulapo suit so even though you’ll normally find them gender-coded, it’s not mandatory.

There are also typical dishes (of course, we are in Spain, we love food here)

One of these is the most typical madrileño thing ever and also my favourite breakfast / snack / merienda / whatever you want to call it, the marvel that is “chocolate con churros” (hot chocolate with churros)

(I’m actually salivating now, it’s soooo good)

Also there’s a typical bun (also really Spanish, there are like 2846823 types of typical buns or sweet things, some really local). In Madrid they are the “rosquillas” (doughnut / bagel, I don’t know the difference, sorry)

Another foods that are really common during all San Isidro are “barquillos”  (”wafers”) and “almendras garrapiñadas”  (”caramelized almonds”)

Apart from that, we have a traditional dance, the “chotis”, a really slow and intimate dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF7lhNNyM-g

One of the most well known chotis is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hsanfnRjZ4

There are normally also a really weird concept to explain, the “tuna” (yes, like the name of the fish in English). To simplify things, just think of them as the Spanish version of the “mariachis”. They look like this:

And I believe they are itinerant but I’m not sure (fun fact, they freak the hell outta my uncle, is really funny to see his expression whenever they appear). Their most famous song is this one, if you were wondering how they sound like: 

https://youtu.be/Vpq8jkkqeCA