Should you find yourself in Madrid around the middle of May each year, you might notice that a healthy portion of the populace is traditionally dressed with red carnations stuck in their vest buttonholes or pinned to their hoop skirts. This is for the Festival of Saint Isidro, the Patron Saint of Madrid, Spain, and of La Ceiba in Honduras. Should you follow a mass of these folks, who will occasionally cluster together to sing choral arrangements, you will undoubtedly find yourself (eventually) at some street party or another where thousands of Madrid’s inhabitants have come to talk and drink long into the evening. To the residents of Madrid, this late spring Festival of Saint Isidro marks the beginning of the long hot summer, and ...
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