Today is the ‘puente’, or bridge day, between two public holidays: Día de la Constitución (December 6th) and Inmaculada Concepción (December 8th). Lots of people also take today as a holiday in order to have an extra long weekend, and many businesses choose to remain closed as well (like my gym, fer instance, grrr…).

Until a few years ago the night of the Inmaculada was traditionally when the Christmas street lights were turned on but this been changing, so that anytime after December 1st you’ll see lights on (though they still all get turned off on January 5th – Epiphany – which I think is a good thing).

The madrugada of the Inmaculada (that’s tonight from midnight till dawn) is also the night when the various tunas get together and sing & play to the Virgin statue in one of the squares next to the cathedral. Tunas are groups of traditional minstrels belonging to the different university faculties and on this night there is something of a competition as they all take turns out-tuna-ing themselves for the Virgin. The last time I went out to see this spectacle was a few years ago (going out after midnight has becoming a rarity) so Nog & I had been planning to go tonight, as he has never seen them in this setting. But since we are both feeling ‘coldy’ we might not make it. It’s not a huge deal if we don’t go because there are often tunas playing at the bar across the street so we actually get to hear them a lot. But this night is actually quite special and apparently it’s also the 25th anniversary for the Biology tuna, so big things are expected . . .

Can we stay up long enough to go out tonight? Eep!

The bridge pic came from here … played with it a bit.