Every June 19th, there’s a spectacular festival in Haro.
When San Felices (Felix) of Bilibio died in the 6th century CE, pilgrims started traveling to the site where his hermitage was located and where he was buried. Much later, in the 18th century, a chapel was built on the spot of the Riscos de Bilibio (Cliffs of Bilibio).
By the 20th century, priests at the chapel had started using wine instead of water for baptisms. I guess you could draw a line from dunking babies in wine to the current wine fight celebration.
Others speculate that the origin of the wine battle dates to 1237 when a judge appointed by the king told the government officials to mark the boundary between Haro and neighboring Miranda de Ebro every year on St. Peter’s Day. After five centuries of this, in 1710, a celebration broke out after the marking of the territory and people began flinging wine at each other, giving birth to the Batalla del Vino en Haro.
Whatever the root, the Wine Battle is something you must see to believe.
Early morning, every St. Peter’s Day (June 29th), the mayor of Haro jumps on a horse and leads a procession of thousands and thousands of people out of town to the Hermitage of San Felices, 7 kilometers away. Most people in the procession are wearing the traditional red and white clothing of the Wine Battle.
After a short mass, all hell breaks loose as people begin drenching everyone in sight with wine. Buckets of wine are dumped on people, cups of wine are splashed in folk’s faces, and squirt guns are filled with red wine for long range wine splattering. Some enterprising people even come prepared with backpack sprayers that carry gallons and gallons of wine. Trucks filled with wine refill your container when you run dry.
The spectacle of thousands and thousands of people drenched in sticky red wine is quite a site. I just wouldn’t want to do the laundry afterwards.
Brent Petersen is the Editor-in-Chief of Destination Eat Drink. He currently resides in Setubal, Portugal. Brent has written the novel Truffle Hunt (Eckhartz Press) and the short story collection That Bird. He’s also written dozens of foodie travel guides to cities around the world on Destination Eat Drink, including an in-depth eating and drinking guide to Portugal. Brent’s podcast, also called Destination Eat Drink, is available on all major podcasting platforms.
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