Yesterday, December 28, is the Spanish equivilant of the UK April´s Fool´s Day (The Day of the Innocents) and practical jokes and traditional high jinks abound.
In Calasparra it is Juan Pelotero and Los Inocentes who visits the town with their games and jokes to cheer up all from the elderly and the very young in a 500 year old tradition.
At midday yesterday the fun began with Juan Pelotero, a traditional character with origins dating back to the XV century, who passed through the streets of Calasparra with his gang of «Innocents» (the Town Clerk the Judge and the Jailor). For a day they wield the «baston of power», the book of archives and a turkey feather quill as symbols of municipal authority which they use to fine residents for anything they like, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
In Calasparra it is Juan Pelotero and Los Inocentes who visits the town with their games and jokes to cheer up all from the elderly and the very young in a 500 year old tradition.
At midday yesterday the fun began with Juan Pelotero, a traditional character with origins dating back to the XV century, who passed through the streets of Calasparra with his gang of «Innocents» (the Town Clerk the Judge and the Jailor). For a day they wield the «baston of power», the book of archives and a turkey feather quill as symbols of municipal authority which they use to fine residents for anything they like, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
