Don HarrisIn the era in which we live there is a tendency to blur gender distinctions. But there is one important event in the life of a boy that is crucial: his rite of passage into manhood. For thousands of years, boys have gone to great lengths to achieve this rite of passage, even to the point of risking their lives. In modern times most boys experience something less drastic, but no less important.
One of my fondest memories as a young chaplain was when I was serving at the Coast Guard Recruit Center in Alameda, California. Each week I would meet with a new rag-tag collection of teenage recruits. Anxious and hopeful, they had signed up for multiple reasons, but I would suspect the main one was they hoped to graduate from boyhood to manhood. Quite a few came from troubled backgrounds and for them this was their chance to shake off their old ways and begin anew.
Twelve weeks later I would see them march by, standing tall and filled with pride as they were greeted by grateful parents, and impressed younger brothers and sisters. They had succeeded, and they were changed. For them the modern day rite of passage had worked, they now felt like men.
As we travel around Spain, I enjoy seeing remnants of ancient rites of passage. These traditions, often dangerous, are a way of testing youth to prove their courage and bonding them to the community. In an earlier essay I wrote about the youth of Ciudad Rodrigo who bravely confronted bulls in the main square of the village to the delight of their family and neighbors.
The mountaintop town of Arcos de la Frontera has a running of the bulls on Easter Sunday. There the 'Hallelujah Bull' runs down the narrow main street with daring boys and men defying death and goring. This is not exactly my idea of an Easter celebration, which usually includes church and an Easter egg hunt! And you all know about the running of the bulls during the feast of San Fermín in Pamplona.
My friend Pablo Vasquez informed me of another amazing example of courageous man against beast, in this case a wild horse. He told me of a centuries-old ritual in the mountain towns of Galicia called Rapa das Bestas, in the Galician language. It takes place throughout the summer in the autonomous province of Galicia - a green and lush Celtic enclave situated above Portugal in far northwest Spain.
Each year hundreds of wild horses are rounded up and herded to the villages in the valley in order to crop their tails and manes. Perhaps the best known of the Rapa das Bestas occurs in the village of Sabucedo at the beginning of July. Sabucedo is a tiny village in Pontevedra with a population of 150 souls, part of the municipality of A Estrada located some 15 miles southeast of Santiago de Compostela.
The name comes from the Latin word strata, meaning 'a place of well-trodden earth.' Appropriately, two ancient paths cross in the main square: from the south is a path originating in Orense and Portugal, where the pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela have passed for a thousand years; from the east the path leads to the interior of Galicia, used through the ages by herdsmen headed to the coast.
According to tradition, in the mid-16th century two elderly sisters prayed to San Lorenzo, the patron saint of Sabucedo, to rescue his people from the plague sweeping through the villages in the valleys. The sisters’ prayers were answered and the village was saved. As an act of gratitude, the sisters offered a pair of handsome horses to be set free in the mountains. These two horses were the forebears of the magnificent herds that now enjoy a free life in the forests above the village.
The Rapa das Bestas commences on the first weekend of July, starting with the local priest celebrating a mass at dawn in the village church on Saturday. One of their prayers asks for protection of the many young men and their elders who with great bravado commit to this highly risky event.
After mass, the eager herders set off to the mountains, as they have for centuries. The area of forest they are canvassing stretches for over 100 miles and is home to more than four herds of wild horses, over 500 of them. When they locate one of the herds of wild horses, they surround them and drive them back to the village. It can take the best part of the morning to bring these handsome animals down from the hills to the local corral, a centuries-old stone amphitheater with seating for almost a thousand people.
Aspiring youth dive onto the backs of the wild horses that are closely packed in the corral in the center of town. Demonstrating their courage and valor, they wrestle one untamed horse at a time to the ground. Together with the men of the town (who are often their uncles and cousins) the youths clip the wild horses’ manes and tails, and brand the foals born in the past year.
The men of Sabucedo employ no ropes or other tools to wrestle the spirited horses to the ground. They depend upon nothing but their bare hands, the raw muscles of the youth and the experience of elders who have been involved with this annual ritual since they were young. The horse wrestlers, called aloitadores, work in teams of three to subdue each animal.
It’s a risky business and can take a number of hours to work through the 200 or so beasts that are clipped on each of the three days of the Rapa das Bestas.
Records show that the annual task of taking a census of the wild horses, checking the health of the herd and branding the young foals evolved into a village-wide celebration at the beginning of the 18th century.
Each day’s work ends with partying and dancing into the night, and at the end of the third curro on the Sunday, the horses are herded up to the mountains again, where they are set free until the following year’s Rapa das Bestas.
Every society has their versions of a rite of passage. I find it remarkable that in these modern times, the age-old traditions in Spain continue to draw communities together to celebrate the coming of a new generation.
Don
P.S. I want to thank Pablo Vasquez for telling me about Rapa das Bestas and I also am indebted to online articles from Wikipedia, Marca Espana and Typically Spanish, which were excellent sources of detail on the history of the Rapa das Bestas.
Rites of Passage: Taming Wild Horses
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Americans have experienced some epic sporting victories over the years, from the “Miracle on Ice” hockey victory over Russia in 1980 to the Dream Team basketball victory in 1992 and the historic Women’s World Cup victory in 1999. And American fans celebrated with parades and parties. But those celebrations pale in comparison to the gatherings in Spain after the 2026 world soccer victory!
In Madrid alone, over 2 million ecstatic fans filled the streets, giving a hero’s welcome to the returning champions. We were astonished to see videos of a vast sea of fans at La Plaza de Cibeles, singing together in one voice, faces glowing with the joy of victory. In a country that often experiences regional tensions, it was incredible to see the entire population coming together with national pride.
Fútbol (soccer) is bordering on a national religion in Spain, with teams participating in intense rivalries between clubs. Some matches are so legendary they even have names, like El Clásico or El Derby. But when the national team played in the big tournament, these rivalries disappeared. On the national team, members of the legendary clubs of La Liga, like FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, played side by side.
We talked with a friend in Valencia who told us the streets were empty during the matches, as families and friends gathered in bars and homes to cheer on La Roja. The crowds shouted in unified passion, bonding with strangers as they celebrated goals or commiserated about bad calls.
We were able to experience some of Spain’s communal joy with a watch party that we organized at the Virginia Beer Company in our hometown of Williamsburg, VA. We shared a free spread of simple tapas with the crowd, from Marcona almonds and picos breadsticks to anchovy stuffed olives and quicos crunchy corn. We even hand-sliced a Jamón Ibérico, with hungry fans devouring the ham faster than we could slice.
The crowd grew to over a hundred people, and we were excited to see a group of a dozen Spanish fans leading the cheers. They were young adults working at Busch Gardens for the summer, and their enthusiasm was infectious. They even inspired the Williamsburg locals to sing “¡OLÉ, OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ!” at full volume. The excellent glasses of beer did not hurt the enthusiasm!
As the final whistle blew in overtime, the entire crowd exploded, led by the Spanish fans. They waved huge red and yellow flags, sang victory songs and literally jumped for joy as a group! One guy ran over and grabbed what was left of the jamón, holding it high in the air like it was a religious icon, then kissed it to celebrate the victory. Another fan grabbed a porrón pitcher that we’d brought and poured a long stream of beer in his mouth. For a moment, it felt like we were at a bar in Madrid or Sevilla, sharing the thrill of victory with the people of Spain.
In life, stereotypes are sometimes positive and real. Spaniards do love jamón with an intensity bordering on obsession. They do come together and connect, creating community wherever they are. It was thrilling to share their passion and excitement; it was an event that we’ll always remember.
¡Hola! I'm Jonathan Harris, one of the owners of La Tienda. I love sharing insights about Spain's amazing food culture. Learn more >
30th Anniversary Spotlight: "Don Don" and His Love of Spain
Our father Don Harris was affectionately called "Don Don" (Mr. Don) by some of our Spanish friends. Such a familiar honorific was so perfect for dad, a man who created so many warm personal bonds with his Spanish friends that he naturally earned their love and respect.
From the day we founded La Tienda 30 years ago, Don valued relationships above all else, more than great food or business success. He was energized by the strong connection he created with our Spanish partners, from Abel Rodriguez, the Cordoban purveyor of Ibérico ham, to Carmen Gutiérrez-Colosía, a generous and welcoming sherry wine maker.
Don loved Spain for its sense of community, a culture where family, and especially children, are treasured. He was by no means a gourmand, preferring simpler pleasures: a great loaf of bread, a slice of tortilla de patatas, and his favorite, a plate of piping hot croquetas de jamón. Don passed peacefully in 2024, but his legacy of welcoming and connection lives on through La Tienda.
Here are a few of Don's very favorite foods from Spain, I hope you enjoy them too!
Jonathan - La Tienda
What Are Real Spanish Tapas?
America is in love with tapas. Or at least the word tapas is used at all kinds of restaurants across the country. In the U.S., this usually means sharing a variety of small plates with fellow diners around a restaurant table so everyone gets to try each dish. While I personally love dining this way, it can be pretty far from the true Spanish tapas tradition.
First of all, tapas are by definition always Spanish food. There is no such thing as Asian or Mexican tapas, just as there is no Spanish sushi or burritos. The world has other great small plates traditions, from Middle Eastern mezze to Chinese dim sum and Italian aperitivo. There's no reason to use the word tapas for these other admittedly delicious styles of eating. Plus, Spain has a wealth of delectable foods, from Galician seafood to Andalucian jamón, and there's no need to add flavors from far afield.
Secondly, tapas is just as much an activity as an eating style. Barcelona and Madrid have streets lined with dozens of tapas bars, each specializing in a particular tapa. My friends and I love stopping by a tapas bar, ordering a drink and enjoying their signature tapa while standing around a tall table. We could order grilled mushrooms topped with shrimp and a small beer in one place, then a pincho moruno pork skewer and a cup of wine in the next, never staying longer than fifteen or twenty minutes at each location. All the while, each of the bars is filled with patrons talking, sharing stories and enjoying each other's company.
This casual camaraderie and connection over tasty bites of food is the third signature of Spanish tapas. Unlike a restaurant meal, a tapas crawl is full of surprises, unexpected flavors and impromptu conversations with friends and strangers along the way. An evening of tapas has a loose informality that encourages new discoveries and shared experiences.
So, enjoy that "tapa" of a Thai spring roll or an Angus slider at a U.S. restaurant. But remember that true Spanish tapas is a whole experience, a time of camaraderie and adventure while enjoying delicious bites of Spain's incredible foods at each stop along the way.
¡Hola! I'm Jonathan Harris, one of the owners of La Tienda. I love sharing insights about Spain's amazing food culture. Learn more >
8 Comments
Please post photos of this event.
Response:
Hi Jim, there are many magnificent pictures of the horses, but when we went to post some of them they were copyrighted. I suggest typing in the name of the town in Google and you will begin to see some of them there.
Thank you for the Bestas article. My grandparents were from Galicia and it is lovely to know more about the Gallegos and their customs. Keep up the good work. By the way while you were at Alameda did you know a Capt. Schlosser. He was a neighbor of ours in Walnut Creek.
Response:
Hola Dolores,
Thank you very much for your note. Galicia is one of my very favorite parts of Spain. Wonderful seafood, great wine, and even greater people – they are very warm and generous.
No, I did not know Capt. Schlosser, but Coast Guard Alameda was one of my favorite duty stations.
This is amazing! As a freelance journalist, I would love to photograph and do a story on this for Western Horseman magazine.
Response:
Hi Kathy,
Check out Google concerning the town and the fiesta. There are many many magnificent pictures of the horses, the young men and the event. I did not post them because they were copyrighted, but I think you really enjoy them.
I think this is a terrible tradition. Wild horses should be that – wild – not caught and have their mane and tails clipped and the young ones branded. Even though the horses are freed later, these men don’t know what psychological effect has been imposed on these beautiful horses. How would they like to exchange places and have this done to them? It’s a barbaric practice and not what I would consider “manly”. It’s cruel, unjust and plain unfeeling and stupid!
Response:
Dear Jacqueline,
I understand exactly what you feel, but there seems to be ingrained in many males the need to risk their lives to conquer one another and show courage. Just look at American football for example, shown several times a week.
That being the case I don’t think these horses are radically mistreated. Branding the colts goes on throughout the world — and most of the year these horses are free range.
Philosophically I agree with you, and it is sad the way some men face each other in combat in the Middle East..
A very interesting topic, not widely known, taking place in an obscure old mountain village with roads less traveled. Humane reasons and methods/means for the horse-dogging would make this tradition rather noteworthy. Many thanks for posting this one! Patrick
Response:
Hi Patrick,
Yes I do enjoy finding these obscure festivals which have been going on for centuries.
Traditions are very much a part of the fabric of Spain, even though many of them are not generally known to the public.
It surely is a rough day for the horses – nothing terrible and in a crude way the horses apparently are honored as they were led back to the country.
In general our culture today is much more interested in being humane to animals. That is ironic, since the newspapers tell us how inhumane men are to each other especially in the Middle East.