What is Aste Nagusia, Bilbao's Great Week?

How it began

Bilbao had long held celebrations in August, when the circus, the fairground, bullfights, boxing matches and traditional dances came to town, but under Franco the festival had become stale. In 1978, after the return of democracy, a contest of ideas was organized to revive it, and the winning project, from the group Txomin Barullo, proposed a festival shared between the council and festive troupes from the different districts, each representing different strands of the city's social and political life.

That model has lasted. In 1980 the mayor tried to have the council run the festival alone; the groups boycotted it, refusing to set up their tents or take part, and the following year the shared model returned. Since 2002 the troupes have been coordinated by their own federation, Bilboko Konpartsak.

The rocket and the herald

The festival opens with the txupinazo, the first bang: a rocket fired since 2001 from the balcony of the Teatro Arriaga by the txupinera, followed by the reading of the festival proclamation by the herald, a well-known figure from or associated with Bilbao. The txupinera is a woman chosen each year by draw from one of the troupes, avoiding those chosen in earlier years.

Her role has its own regalia. In 1983 the sculptor José Ángel Lasa made an oak holder for the rocket and a makila, a walking stick, as a sign of authority, which are kept at the city hall and handed from each year's txupinera to the next. Her uniform, designed in 1985, is a red tunic with black collar and gold buttons and a red beret embroidered with the city's coat of arms. Curiously, the uniform recalls those of the Carlist troops who besieged and bombarded Bilbao in the nineteenth century, especially in its red beret.

In 1981 the txupinera was also given the task of firing a rocket every morning of the festival, and with so much more work that year a reserve txupinera was chosen, from the group Kezkalariak; the experiment was not repeated, as it was judged unnecessary.

Concerts and fireworks

Concerts are a central part of the week. The official program has ranged from Basque bands such as Berri Txarrak, Gatibu and Ken Zazpi to international acts including Coldplay, Iggy Pop, the Pet Shop Boys and Simple Minds, and the festival groups and the bars put on their own alternative concerts alongside.

Every night the Villa de Bilbao international fireworks competition lights up the sky, with a different pyrotechnic company each evening and a closing display at the end of the week. The river and the bridges make a natural grandstand.

Planning a visit around it

If you want to experience the festival, come for at least two or three of the nine days, and book your room well ahead, since the city fills and rates rise; the booking ahead page explains. The old town and the Arenal are the center of things and are loud late into the night, so if you need sleep, stay a little further out, in the Ensanche, Indautxu or Deusto, and walk or take the Metro in.

If you are coming for the museums and quiet streets, choose another week, because the old town becomes one long party and the riverside fills with people for the fireworks every night. Either way, check the festival's program on the city's site for the year's dates and events, and see when to come for the rest of the calendar.

The Great Week is not the only summer celebration. In July and August the neighborhoods hold their own fiestas, among them the Carmen in Santutxu and Indautxu, Santiago in Bilbao La Vieja and San Ignacio, and others on Artxanda; they are smaller and more local, and a good way to see the city's districts enjoying themselves.