Tamborrada the Spanish Drum Festival 19th & 20th January 2020

Unni Mohanadas January 19, 2020 Destinations 0

Location : San Sebastian, Spain

Destination Type: Cultural

La Tamborrada festival is a traditional drum playing festival celebrated in San Sebastian, Spain .Thousands drummers of the Tamborrada festival in San Sebastian dress up as either military drummers from the Napoleonic period or cooks. Parades are conducted by bands for 24 hours.

History of Tamborrada

The festival is said to originate from the 1830s during Napoleon’s troupes invaded the city
The locals of San Sebastian mocking the invaded soldiers using buckets and hardware from the water pump by aping their daily procession
In the early days, the procession also heralded the ox run event, held on the same day
By 1886, barrels were added to the formations in attendance along with the acquired unused military outfits
From just only 3 in the 1920s, today there are over 125 clubs and organizations that have formations for the event.

Activities for tourists at Tamborrada Festival

Join the crowd at 19^th Midnight at city center
Sing along and dance with crowd as they start to sing with the drummers marching by
Each club participating will be forming different bands and playing all night , enjoy them
Wait for the almost 5000 kids’ form Tamborrado and play drums
Get a brochure upon arrival, it will indicate the routes of each drum parade

How to reach there

Air

San Sebastián Airport which is only 20 kilometers from the city centre, has connections to the major Spanish cities; Madrid and Barcelona. Bilbao Airport, with connections to all Europe, is 105km from the city, and Biarritz Airport, served by French and international low-cost companies, 47km

Nearby destinations for tour operators / travel agents