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UPCOMING FREE ACTIVITIES
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August 23, 2024

Learn Spanish in Bilbao and feel the air of The Great Week

These days Bilbao has changed into a different city. The main topic of all conversations is Aste Nagusia - The Great Week of Bilbao. No one wants to be excluded from the party and the special atmosphere that had seized the city. The city center changes its colors, the usual places look different and also are used for different purposes. Every corner becomes a stage for street artists or for the program scheduled by the Town Hall or the comparsas (groups that help to organize the festive week and also other events in Bilbao during the year) themselves.

Experience the festive week in Bilbao is to feel and get to know also the culture of the country. Our students have the possibility to enjoy the program in the afternoons and supplement this way the morning Spanish classes they are taking in Instituto Hemingway. They are also the ones who help to change the town festivities into an international, funny and colorful event.

The principal symbol of Aste Nagusia in Bilbao is the figure called Marijaia. Marijaia is a thick lady and she has her arms raised like she was dancing all the time. She was born in 1978, but the following year, more specifically on 22th of August of 1979, she ended up burned by accident – people say it was because of a wrong quenched cigarette. That’s why Mari Puri Herero, the woman who created the old Marijaia, had to do another one in just five days so that the figure could continue appearing in different events of Aste Nagusia. Since the year 1977 Marijaia also has her own song.

There are also other important characters who help to organize the festivities. They are called pregonero and txupinera. Pregonero is supposed to read an announcement in order to start The Great Week and motivate people to participate and join the program and fun. Txupinera is a role offered just to women and the work they need to get done is to inform all citizens and neighbors of Bilbao about the initiation of Aste Nagusia by shooting a txupín (one type of explosive rocket).

These days walking through the streets of Bilbao you are going to meet people with a scarf tied in the neck – its base is blue, but it has different designs. It’s the typical scarf of The Great Week of Bilbao which changes every year a bit. Wearing the scarf is an act of participation in Aste Nagusia and the endless desire to enjoy this unique week.

If you find yourself interested in taking some Spanish course with us and explore Bilbao, write us an email to info@institutohemingway.com and ask all you want to know about what we offer to our clients.

See you soon.

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