Two horses at the fair of Malaga

Two horses at the fair of Malaga

The summer festivities in the city of Malaga (Spain) have their roots in the commemoration of the incorporation of the city to the Castilian crown of the Catholic Monarchs, who made their triumphal entrance into the city on 19th August 1487.

In 1491, coinciding with the religious celebrations of the Cathedral Chapter, the Municipal Town Council decreed the establishment of popular festivities, which that year began on 15th August.

It was in 1887, with celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Catholic Monarchs’ entrance into Malaga, that these festivities regained their initial splendour. Malaga’s August Fair has come to the present day as a Grand Summer Fair that is open, cosmopolitan and international, all of this reflecting the character of the capital of the leading tourist area in Europe: the City of Malaga as the key centre of the Costa del Sol and its metropolitan area.

One of the most beautiful spectacles is the Concurso de Enganches, a competition to pick the best horse and carriage. Several classes of carriage are judged, starting with single horse carriages, all the way to six horse teams arranged three across. Carriages fall into two and four wheel classes, covered and uncovered, and are usually in immaculate condition. Carriage owners take great pride in the appearance of their carriages, the horses, harnesses, and of course themselves.

Gentlemen are dressed in period costume suitable for the carriage they drive, whilst the ladies compete to be the prettiest Flamenco lady in the Plaza de Toros.

During following days the participants roaming the streets of the city, integrating into the fair and adorning it with their horses and carriages.

In this picture can be seen two beautiful horses with strained ornaments in the colors of the spanish flag, the red and yellow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 02:12. It is filed under Fine Art, Thumbnail Slider and tagged with adorn, andalusia, animal, beautify, brown, caballus, carriage, congratulate, culture, custom, decoration, domesticated, embellish, equus, exhibition, fair, folklore, getup, heat, herbivorous, heritage, horse, malaga, mammal, ornament, ornamentation, outfit, plume, portrait, pride, proud, quadruped, red, rig, satisfaction, spain, spanish, summer, sunny, tradition, turnout, two, warmth, yellow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.