The Fiestas of San Juan

Hi! My name is Paula and I´m going to talk you about Soria's Fiesta of San Juan.
They take six days:

Wednesday: “Miercoles el Pregón”
At night the fista of San Juan starts with an opening of the traditional fiesta, A speech is given by one of the twelve Jurymen (or Jurados)of the twelve different "Cuadrillas" (official special groups), one for each area of Soria. After the opening speech the "Peñas" (independent groups) dance to the Dehesa. Then in the different main squares of Soria several orchestras play music all night long.

Thursday: “Jueves la Saca”
You need to wake up early because you are going to visit Valonsadero to see the route that the bulls take from the mountain to the bull ring in Soria, this takes place at 12 o´clock. But all Soria goes there, so that is the main reason for waking up early. However when you are there you can have something to drink at the "Chiringuitos", or beer tents, while you listen to music, along with a lot of other people in Valonsadero. Then you need to get a good place if you want to see how the bulls run out to start the route. However, many people stand very near the bullpen. After this you can go to the "Descansadero", or resting place, to see the bulls again. You eat quickly if you want to see them reaching the bull ring. In the afternoon some "Vaquillas" (heifers) are released in the bull ring. And at night the orchestras play again.

Friday: “Viernes de Toros”
In the morning six bulls are fought in the bull ring and in the afternoon another six. After each of the six bulls the "cuadrillas" parade along the "Collado". At night the orchestras play music again.

Saturday: “Sabado Agés”
The meat of the twelve bulls that were killed on Friday is auctioned by the "Cuadrillas". At night we can go to see the fireworks in the Dehesa, and after that dance to the orchestras again.

Sunday: “Domingo de Calderas”
Everyone goes to the Dehesa in the morning to see the different presentations of the bull's meat that is decorated by each `"Cuadrilla" and the name of this special decoration is "caldera". The people that parade usually wear regional dress. Then the "peñas" parade too. At night the orchestras play too.

Monday: “Lunes de Bailas”
We go to San Saturio to eat there and everyone ends up completely wet because they jump in the river. There we eat, we listen to music and we dance. At night we return to Soria and we see the fireworks in the Dehesa. At three or four o´clock in the morning we hear the `Adios, adios San Juan´(bye, bye San Juan).

The Dakar Rally

I am going to talk about the Dakar Rally. This event took place during December 2008 in South America. This rally is the most important of all the other rallies during year.

This year the rally has been moved to South America because of the terrorist threats that could affect the race. The previous year the race was cancelled for the same reason, so the decision to move it to another continent was a good idea, rather than cancelling it.

At the same time the race is going to be more interesting because none of the drivers repeating in this race know the terrain.

In this rally there are four categories: motorbikes, cars, trucks and finally quads. The Dakar takes three weeks, more or less, and in this edition covers two countries; Argentina and Chile. This year the rally starts and finishes in the same place - Buenos Aires.

The rally covers 10,000 kilometres over different surfaces. This is not the real rally, because the reason why the drivers sign up for this race is to start in Paris and finish in the pink lake passing through the dunes.

The competition started in 1979 when a French man born in Paris visited Dakar and fell in love with the Pink Lake.

This adventure is different other ones; there are different stops to fill up with petrol, and each leg covers more or less 250 kms. per day. However, to earn points you are judged every 500 kms.

The sad thing about this rally is that every year someone dies because you drive alone and if you get lost you can spend some days alone in the desert. The death rate so far is 37 deaths.

This year the favourites in the different categories were; Marc Coma in motorbikes with a KTM, in cars Carlos Sainz with a Volkswagen, A Dutch man in trucks and a Spaniard in quads.

The Dakar is not only a competition, it also helps the people of the region.

Introducing myself.

Hello, I'm Patricia. I'm a teenager at "Virgen del Espino" high school. I'm going to talk about me. I am 15 years old and my birthday is the 17th of March. I have one brother and his name is Eduardo, he is 11 years old.

Well, I'm going to talk more about me. I have brown hair, big brown eyes, and I'm not very tall. My favourite sport is volleyball. I like volleyball very much, so I play in the Santo Domingo Club of Volleyball in Soria.

I like to going to my village as well, Cabrejas del Pinar, and it's in Soria. It has many fiestas, but my favourite is Fiesta de La Blanca which I enjoy very much.
Here in Soria there are other fiestas as well, but the best one is San Juan.

I love to listen to music, I like many different types of music, but the one I like best is summer music because it makes me feel very good and it reminds me of when I was on summer holidays. Well I hope you liked reading about me!

My Town and its Traditions

Soria is a city situated at the Eastern part of Castilla y León, in north-central Spain.I t is situated on the Duero River, at 1.063 metres.

It is the smallest city of Spain in population, 39.078 inhabitants in 2008. But one of the biggest provinces in area: 271,8 km².

The city is noted for its walls and a number of architecturally distinctive churches. One of the reasons why Soria has became famous in the world is because of the poet Antonio Machado. He wrote many poems referring to Soria and to the province.

TRADITIONS

-The main important traditions in Soria nowadays are:

- The Fiestas of San Juan

- Fiestas of San Saturio.

1- The Fiestas of San Saturio are in honour of the patron saint of Soria, San Saturio. They start on 1st of October and they finish 5th of the same month. They are more for young children because during this Fiesta, many games are arranged for them.

2- The most famous tradition is the Fiesta of San Juan; they have been declared of National Tourist Interest. They start the Thursday after the festivity of San Juan (24 of June). There are 6 days of fiesta, but during the previous two months, 4 days more are included in preparation for this fiestas.

PREPARING FOR THE FIESTAS

- The Catapán: During the Catapán, the new “Jurados” or neighbourhood leaders of the Fiesta are officially presented, when the Jurados of the previous year give the new ones the walking stick.

- Desencajonamiento: During the desencajonamiento, the 12 bulls that they are going to run in Jueves la Saca enter the bullring of Cañada Honda.

- Lavalenguas

- La Compra

THE SIX DAYS OF FIESTAS

Miércoles el Pregón: At 23:00, in the main square of Soria, the 12 new “Jurados” read an opening address to start the Fiestas of San Juan.

Jueves la Saca: At 12:00, the 12 bulls leave the bullpen of Cañada Honda to go to the bullring of Soria. The 12 bulls are guided by horses and people running. They stop at two different points before they arrive in Soria.

Viernes de Toros: During the morning and the afternoon, 12 bulls (6 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon) are fought by 6 inexperienced bullfighters.

Sabado Agés: The meat of the Bulls is auctioned during all the afternoon in the 12 quadrilles. Beginning with the horns and the tail, and ending with the sirloin.

Domingo de Calderas: In the morning, the 12 quadrilles show people their cauldrons in the city. First in the Dehesa and Collado, with each quadrille ending in their respective neighbourhoods.

Lunes de Bailas: It is the last day of the fiestas, and in the morning there are fashion parades by the quadrilles and by the four groups (Poca Pena, El Cuadro, El Desbarajuste and Los que Faltaban). In the afternoon, many people go to San Polo to have a snack next to the river Duero. At night the municipal band of Soria plays most of the Sanjuaneras, finishing with the “Adios, adios San Juan” which means the end of the Fiestas.

Barcelona WINTER CHAMPIONS

After winning the last match against Villareal, FC Barcelona was declared Winter Champion in the BBVA league.

Yesterday; we experienced an intense football session in the Madrigal, in Villareal. We saw how in the 2nd minute in the second half, Cani scored the first goal against Barcelona, and how only 7 minutes later keita scored the second goal of the match drawing at 1-1.

Then there where 10 minutes of play in which either of them could have scored a goal, but it was in the 21st minute of the second half when Henry put Barcelona ahead leaving the final score 1-2.

In the last ten minutes of the match, it was Villareal who had 3 easy chances of scoring a goal to draw after an unfair sending off of Piqué in the 28th minute of the second half because of a foul that didn’t exist. The referee said that Piqué had hit Guille Franco in his face. The first sending off for Barcelona this season.

After that, FC Barcelona was declared winter champion 10 points above Sevilla and 12 points above their direct rival, Real Madrid CF.