Click for official website

If you work in Madrid city, enjoy your day off this Tuesday, the 15th of May, and thank Madrid’s patron saint, San Isidro Labrador. Also the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro is celebrated every year with a procession through the Carabanchel district of Madrid, as well as various activities in the center.

As San Isidro falls on a Tuesday this year, the celebrations begin today, with the pregón, or kickoff taking place in Plaza de la Villa tonight at 8:00pm. Once the Gigantes y Cabezudos (a few giant statues with enormous heads) arrive in Plaza de la Villa from Plaza Santo Domingo and Plaza del Oriente, San Isidro weekend will officially begin. After the pregón, head to Plaza Mayor to hear a great concert by the Madrid Symphonic Orchestra at 9:30pm.

My favorite part of San Isidro is the music. All weekend in Parque de Las Vistillas (metro Ópera), live music can be heard at practically any time of day. Every evening there will be concerts with a bit more flair and staging and the park will be completely full of people singing and dancing to traditional tunes. However if you want to hear something a bit more contemporary, make your way to the Espacios y Congresos at Puerta del Ángel for PlanetaMadrid. This free concert series celebrates a dedication to sustainable development and runs from approximately 5:00pm to midnight Saturday evening. There will be environmental and education workshops while eight bands play on one of the two stages. On Sunday another concert series, UniversiMAD, will be held in the same space. This is another concert series, but it’s only free to enter if you have an invitation, which you can find at FNAC and opentrada.com. Also, keep your eyes open at the smaller concert venues throughout the weekend, as many of them will be having free shows as part of the celebration.

I think the one of the best parts of the San Isidro program this year will be the fireworks show in Parque Retiro. At 10:30pm on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, different pyrotechnics companies will prepare and ignite a spectacle of lights and music at the Alfonso XIII monument. And, like every year, this holiday would not be complete without a visit to La Pradera (also known as Parque de San Isidro, metro: Marques de Vadillo). There will be a different concert in La Pradera every night during the weekend as well as next weekend… don’t miss it!

All of this and much, much more is available during San Isidro weekend. Click here to download the official program and take advantage of your city’s patron fiesta!

You didn’t think you’d be safe from zombies in Madrid, did you?

If you haven’t heard the rumors, I’m here to tell you right now that they are true: zombies are coming much sooner than you might think. In fact, for the past few years they have freely roamed the streets of Madrid once a year in a great demonstration of zombie strength and solidarity. What’s even worse is that they aren’t even secretive about it:

2012 Marcha Zombi poster

So what can you do?

• 1. Grab  your camera. Nobody will ever believe you were in the presence of so many zombies at once and survived unscathed. Charge those batteries as full as you can, because you never know how long they’ll keep you on the run…
• 2. Wear comfortable shoes. I must repeat: you never know how long they’ll keep you on the run…
• 3. Bring your friends. The 2009 film (or preparatory pseudo-documentary) Zombieland presents us with a set of rules to abide by in order to survive in a zombie-filled world. Rule #29 is simply, “the buddy system.” You don’t want to be caught out there alone.
• 4. Fool the zombies; disguise yourself. There is little evidence to support that zombies are intelligent beings. They tend to only be out for blood, so if you’re a good actor and makeup artist, get yourself in your best zombie gear and put on your most vacant expression so you can covertly join them at this year’s meet-up.

If all else fails, and you honestly do not think you can survive an onslaught of zombies, I present you with my last suggestion…

• 5. Enjoy the show. The 2012 ”Marcha Zombi” will take place this Sunday, April 15, in Felipe II (Metro: Goya) at 7pm, with zombies gathering at the “Zombie tree,” or the tree statue in the middle of the plaza. I suggest you do as I did last year (and lived to tell the tale!): find a table at a nearby terraza, order a round of your favorite beverages and snacks, and watch the fun unfold.

Semana Santa – the Holy Week – is the week directly before Easter and is a big deal in Spain. Most businesses give their employees the religious holidays off, while some businesses (like mine) enjoy an entire week of vacation in which many people leave the city, often to travel or to spend it in their pueblo with family. However, if you find yourself staying in Madrid next week, you’re not alone. A recent survey found that about seventy percent of madrileños do not plan to leave during the Easter holidays, due to both personal reasons and because of the economic crisis still crippling many Spanish residents.

So, now you must be wondering, what’s there to do in a place that doesn’t celebrate hunting down candy-filled plastic eggs on the president’s front lawn? Head over to your neighbor’s house and tell them not to fret – together, the two of you can enjoy this year’s Semana Santa in Madrid (1-8 April).

Churches
The majority of the week (Monday-Thursday) will be relatively normal. But in the evenings, stop in nearly any church in town to see beautiful displays made with candles and flowers. Many of these churches will also have these displays brought out in processions to be held during the weekend.

Processions
The first important processions, Cristo de la Fe y el Perdón and Nuestro Padre Jesús de la Salud, will be held on Wednesday, April 4. You can find the latter on the Paseo del Prado and surrounding streets.

The most popular processions will be held on Thursday, April 5. The Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y María Santísima de la Esperanza and the Jesús Nazareno y la Virgen de la Soledad will have huge crowds gathering to watch.

On Friday, April 6, you can expect to see three more parades, and on Saturday, April 7, you will see one last parade.

While Madrid doesn’t boast the same level of fame as our Andalusian neighbor Sevilla, you can see a parade very similar to that of Sevilla’s famous (or infamous?) Easter procession. It is called the Procesión del Silencio and it takes place in the early morning hours on Good Friday (April 6). During this procession you will see worshippers dressed in traditional robes and pointed hoods silently walking the streets of Madrid.

Food
Like any other festival in Spain, Easter comes with delicious treats that you must try. First up are torrijas - a sweet bread made with milk and cinnamon, perfect with coffee or for an afternoon snack. You can also enjoy various fish-filled croquetas, as Lent is still upon us. Or try out potaje de garbanzos a la madrileña, a chickpea stew similar to cocido madrileño.

Finally, on Easter Sunday (April 8), the drum band from the Brotherhood of Jesus from Zaragoza’s Villamayor de Gallego will be joined by the instrumental section of Madrid’s Congregación de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad y Desamparo at 12pm in Plaza Mayor.

What are your Semana Santa plans? Will you be staying in the city or traveling?