it was necessary to interpret the story so that women could take part in the Tamborrada. The figure of the aguadoras was incorporated in 1980 this tradition which recreates in San Sebastian in a sonic duel between soldiers, who play drums, and cooks, that the club barrels, when they were waiting in front of a fountain. The company Kresala understood 40 years ago, after studying the chronicles, that those who were going to the water were women and gave them a role within this parade that brings the streets to thousands of people on the day of San Sebastian to see some 20,000 participants, including children and the elderly. Four decades after it has reached a new step for equality: this Monday there will no longer be a little girl as The Bella Easo, as the queen of a children’s parade, nor the escort ladies of honor.
The decision comes from Aitor Ikastola, colegio san sebastian when he played to choose this character in the present edition. Maixabel Asensio, secretary of the association of parents of the center, explains that suppressed this figure, considering it “out of date in these times.” “We want to give prominence to boys and girls alike,” argues Asensio to talk about an initiative that has been backed by the city Council of San Sebastian, directed by Eneko Goia (PNV). This mother affirms that they have received some criticism “for as in any decision there are always people against” and expressed pride that their school had dared to do so. Now, the next year will be another school which you choose if you retrieve The Bella Easo, or to keep it to one side.
The measures feminists and for equality in this festivity have been rear-ended, historically, with the traditional component reluctant to alter their habits. The study step by Step to a drum in equality published in 2014 noted that the meeting only allowed the presence of girls since 1984, after a century of career. Only with one condition: “Always hide distinctive details of your sex (long hair and earrings)”. The progressive emergence of schools-mixed made it easier for the girls to join the parades, a process of feminisation, which began in 1929 with a company of Turkish women that did resonate his drums for San Sebastian, but that the dictatorship thwarted.
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The passage of time has normalized women in this event that paralyzes the streets. The Equality act, which was implemented by the basque Government in 2005 banned the cultural activities in public spaces if obstacles to the participation of women in equality with men. The legislation was key to promoting equity, if there are still the traditional societies of basque, a kind of private clubs, that do not support quota for women among its members. The study warns that “to be mixed and to be equal does not mean the same thing”. The vast majority of the tamborrada clubs make are mixed, they point out, but barely a third of the participants are women. “No parity”, they conclude, and cite that these may not always be able to access leading positions. This year the award of the golden drum is for the women’s teams of the Royal Society of football and hockey grass, a laurel that usually resided in men.
This kind of traditions, so respected and valued in San Sebastián, have a component conservative that gives greater value to this adaptation to the rhythms of the society. The progress has been slower in the case of the feast of the Alarde of Hondarribia, territory gipuzkoa next to France, which divides the town into two speeds: the part that allows female presence in the parade of soldiers and those who hold that only men can be armed and they have to be mere bartenders. The women of the first group face the rejection and jeers of those who criticize this adaptation of a custom with more than four centuries of history.
