Plaza de la Virgen Blanca is one of the oldest meeting points in Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Country of Spain. In the middle of it there is the monument to La batalla de Vitoria a battle which took place in the city in 1813 during the Napoleonic wars.
In the Middle Ages the square was Vitoria's city center. It was the place where all activities, including bullfights and food markets, were carried out. At the end of the 18th century, Plaza de España or Plaza Nueva was built right next to it by Vitorian architect Justo Antonio de Olaguibel. Due to the construction of the new square the old one became the local's meeting point. In 2007 the flowers that were in the middle of it were removed and fountains were installed in order to modernize the square.
At 6:00 pm, Celedon's descent is performed from the top of the Church of San Miguel to a balcony across the Virgen Blanca square, where Celedón (a rag doll with an umbrella) slides all the way down suspended by a wire. Meanwhile the citizens stand below it, showering themselves in champagne and singing Celedón's song. Once he reaches the balcony the staff hide the rag doll and a human Celedón appears. Next up, he has to cross the square, helped by a group of friends, to reach the Church of San Miguel and greet the crowds below and wish everyone a happy celebration. This performance marks the start of the celebration in Vitoria-Gasteiz. At 10:00 pm, the Virgen Blanca brotherhood is in charge of organizing a lantern procession.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Araba/Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community's House of Parliament, the headquarters of the Government, and the Lehendakari's official residency. The municipality—which comprises not only the city but also the mainly agricultural lands of 63 villages around—is the largest in the Basque Country, with a total area of 276.81 square kilometres (106.88 sq mi), and it has a population of 252,571. The dwellers of Vitoria-Gasteiz are called vitorianos or gasteiztarrak, while traditionally they are dubbed babazorros.
Yécora is a town and municipality in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.
Miranda de Ebro is a city on the Ebro river in the province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located in the north-eastern part of the province, on the border with the province of Álava and the autonomous community of La Rioja. According to the 2008 census conducted by Spain's National Institute of Statistics, it has a population of 39,589 inhabitants, making it the second most populous city in the province after the capital, Burgos.
Jerécuaro is a Mexican city located in the lowlands of the state of Guanajuato. The municipality has an area of 828.3 square kilometres and is bordered to the north by Apaseo el Alto, to the east by Coroneo and the state of Querétaro, to the south by Tarandacuao, to the southwest with Acámbaro, and to the northwest with Tarimoro. The municipality had 55,311 inhabitants according to the 2005 census. The municipal president of Jerécuaro and its many smaller outlying communities is C.Jaime García Cardona.
Navas de San Juan is a Spanish village of the province of province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE), the city has a population of 5,030 inhabitants. It is the biggest village in the region of El Condado. The river called Guadalimar runs for its municipal area.
Briviesca is a municipality and a Spanish city located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, head of the judicial district of Briviesca, capital of the comarca of La Bureba and province of Burgos, autonomous community of Castile and León. According to the demographic data of 2017, the municipality has 6,861 inhabitants, being the 4th most populated in the province. The municipality of Briviesca is made up of five towns: Briviesca, Cameno, Quintanillabón, Revillagodos and Valdazo.
Tezonapa is a municipality located in the high mountains region in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, about 219 km from state capital Xalapa. It covers an area of 351 square kilometres (136 sq mi). The law number 93 of December 22, 1960 San Agustín created Tezonapa's municipality with the congregations of the Josefinas, Prison, Tezonapa, Palmarito, etc.
Arriaga-Lakua was a Spanish village in Álava, Basque Country and is at present one quarter of Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community has increased considerably in recent years. According to data from the Eustat the number of tourists entering the region in the year 2009 was 1,991,790, a figure which has improved over 2010, with the final result still pending. Of the people who visit the region each year, 71% come from the rest of Spain, with the following Autonomous Communities providing the greatest number of visitors: Madrid Autonomous Community (14.2%), Catalonia (11.1%). International visitors make up the remaining 29%, with France (7.2%) being the country which provides the most visitors to the Basque Autonomous Community. Furthermore, 62% of the people who come to the Basque Autonomous Community visit one of the three capitals, 27% visit inland and 11% the Basque Autonomous Community coast. The average stay of the visitors is 1.88 days, with Gipuzkoa being the province which records the longest stays, with an average of 2.01 days.
The Fiestas de la Virgen Blanca have been celebrated every year, since 1884. It is held on 5 August, but the celebrations begin the day before, on the 4th, and end on 9 August it honours the patron saint of the city, and features a programme of special events, activities and free open-air concerts.
Celedón is a symbol of the villager native of Alava. Wearing a beret and dressed in a traditional blouse, always accompanied by an umbrella, the personage has been located by the historians in diverse environments. This man or personage opens the holidays of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque province of Araba-Álava in Spain.
The Virgen Blanca is the patron saint of the Spanish city Vitoria-Gasteiz. Its festivity is celebrated on 5 August, commonly known as Andre Maria Zuriaren jaiak or las fiestas de la Blanca.
Blusas are Basque citizens who dress in the traditional clothes of the region and attend events in Vitoria-Gasteiz such as the Virgen Blanca Festivities. The blusas assemble in groups called cuadrillas, and their main role is to provide entertainment at these events.
Anúcita/Anuntzeta is a village that belongs to the municipality of Ribera Alta and the Cuadrilla of Añana, in the judicial district of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava-Araba, in the Basque country of Spain. It lies at the foot of the mountain San Vitores and on the left bank of the Bayas River at an elevation of 580 m. The village is bordered to the north by Subijana and Morillas, to the east by Nubilla, to the south by Hereña, and to the west by Pobes.
The Plaza de los Fueros is a plaza or square located in the city centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is the capital of the Basque Country, Spain. It was built in 1979 in memory of the county code of laws named fuero in Spanish.
The massacre of 3 March 1976 in Vitoria is the massacre that took place on March 3, 1976, in the Basque capital during the so-called Spanish Transition: in a day of strike, the Spanish Armed Police Corps used tear gas to force the workers out of the parish where they were gathering in assembly. As the workers left the Church of San Francisco de Asís, in the working-class neighbourhood of Zaramaga, they were shot by the police. This resulted in 5 dead workers and 150 injured with gunshot wounds. The same police described the facts as a massacre. These facts inspired Lluís Llach celebrated song Campanades a morts.
The Portals or Arcs of Vitoria-Gasteiz were Medieval crenelated towers that fortified the entrances to a street of the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. This tower had a gateway in its center.
The Second tower of the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, also called Tower of the Correría was the smaller of the two towers that noted for its height, the other tower exist today intact, that were in the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, in Vitoria-Gasteiz.