San Sebastián will be daytime
PalmPurely due to my professional background, I have zero interest in the street parties and the San Sebastián festivities. I spent years writing chronicles of those nights until the early hours, and when I finally stopped, I promised myself I'd never go back.
I've been convinced for years that the whole model made no sense. It was dead because it was a product of an era when artists toured, there was a real musical explosion, and, moreover, people were nocturnal. Since then, no leader has dared to intervene or, at least, put it in the emergency room. No mayor wants controversy. Even less so with the patron saint festivities.
The People's Party (PP), on the other hand, has managed to read the times and introduce changes smoothly, so as not to upset anyone. Or perhaps the public simply doesn't care. In any case, it's a good idea to loosen up the celebration with the "horabauxes" (a type of open-air dance), at times that allow for work-life balance, or to dedicate space to genres like electronic music.
Jaime Martínez's team is already placing their logos on the activities of the brotherhoods, even though they aren't part of the official program. They aren't protesting either, because their fight is different: to be allowed to have fun and build the San Sebastián that politicians haven't been able to adapt to the times. It doesn't make much sense to sacralize a festival with such a short historical trajectory, and it seems clear that the future is in the hands of the brotherhoods and should be a daytime event.
Sooner or later, the open-air dance should become a secondary activity, and the celebrations should focus on the main holiday. It makes no sense for members of the brotherhoods to request the day off or rush to get out of work just to make it to the lunch and whatever else comes after on the 19th. The gathering will grow, and that's the direction the festival should take. Perhaps starting early on the 20th. And from there, everything else should revolve around it.
The festivals should be for the people, and here theoff It's clearly winning the battle against the official one. Against them is the weather: the cold and the rain. In their favor, everything is still to be done. The absurd cancellation this year due to the Córdoba train disaster—there were other, more institutionally elegant ways to handle it—didn't deter those who truly feel a sense of belonging to San Sebastián. Nor did they have much room to maneuver when the announcement of the program's cancellation came at midday. With everything already set in motion.
