for almost 300 years, san sebastián has been celebrating the feast day of saint sebastian, “la tamborrada”, with an exciting parade of drumming. this is the most popular festival in the city, and is attended by most of its 200,000 citizens and travellers from all over the world, regardless of the cold or rain.
the festival lasts an epic 24 hours—from midnight to midnight and starts the 20th january at 00:00 hours when the mayor raises the city’s blue and white flag in the old towns constitution square and ends at the same place at 24:00 hours when the unión artesana tamborrada lowers the flag. the raising of the flag is the signal when over 100 separate drum-corps regiments (accompanied by a brass band of 6 or 7 people), each composed of 20-50 men and women dressed in the 18th-century garb of chefs, peasants or napoleonic-era soldiers.
travelchronicles-acrossspain.com 