AP PHOTOS: In Spanish village, horses leap through flames in centuries-old ritual
SAN BARTOLOME DE PINARES, Spain (AP) — On a chilly January night, hundreds of people gathered on the steep and narrow cobblestoned streets of San Bartolome de Pinares — population 500 — to watch a dramatic sight: horses galloping through towering flames.
It’s a centuries-old tradition in the Spanish village about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Madrid that takes place every year to honor St. Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of animals. Riders guide horses through bonfires lit in the middle of the street in an act believed to purify the animals in the coming year.
Festivities started around nightfall Thursday as giant stacks of tree branches, later fuel for the flames, were placed on the side of the street, while locals mulled about sharing wine and beer and sweets.
In San Bartolome, where livestock and agriculture were common traditional livelihoods, locals say it all started after a mysterious illness swept through the village's animals centuries ago. It was then that people started believing that smoke could purify and heal horses, said Ángel Martín, as he tended to his family's horses near a stone church with his father.
“Since then, it's stayed on as tradition,” Martín explained.
Las Luminarias has long attracted criticism for being brutal toward the animals involved.
To protect them, hours before the show starts, riders wrap their horses' tails in fire-resistant tape and braid their manes. Some apply a glaze on the animals' mane to prevent them from burning as they leap through the flames. Others beautify them, tightly braiding their manes, tying pink and red ribbons to their tails wrapped in tape, and...