MANGANESES DE LA POLVOROSA, Spain -- Brushing aside accusations of animal cruelty, villagers in northern Spain went ahead on Saturday with their annual ritual of hurling a goat from a church belfry during a local fiesta.
Nearly a thousand people, some in traditional dress and many of them drunk on wine, gathered in the streets of Manganeses de la Polvorosa to witness this year's "Jump of the Goat" in honor of the village's patron saint.But Pepa, a black female goat, escaped the fate some of her predecessors have met.
She emerged shaken but unscathed from the 50-foot plunge after being pushed from the top of the church bell tower and caught in a canvas sheet by revelers who then paraded her through the village on their shoulders.
The ritual of the San Vicente de Martir festival, one of many local fiestas across Spain in which animals including bulls and donkeys are used in the celebrations, has long been condemned as inhumane by animal rights campaigners.
But this year, a major Spanish newspaper weighed in on the goat-hurling controversy with a front-page headline branding it an "annual barbarity."
Complaining that such rituals continue to give Spain a bad name internationally, the daily Diario 16 said in an editorial: "It is clearly not necessary to throw a goat from a belfry in order for a town to enjoy its fiesta. In fact, this should never happen again."
But Demetrio Prieto, mayor of Manganeses, defended the village's tradition. "The goat does not suffer," he told Reuters. "And no one has the right to interfere in our fiesta."
Villagers have clashed with both police and animal welfare activists in past years. But no protesters attended this year's ceremony, and the event took place without incident.
The origin of the festival remains a mystery. Villagers are divided on when the first hapless goat was sent flying.
But, according to local legend, the festival was born when an intrepid goat climbed the steps of the 18th century church to eat food the village priest had left for doves.
When the priest discovered the goat, it leapt in panic from the belfry and ran off into the hills.