Goats in the Belfry...

The Loony Bin ( loonies@bloodaxe.com )
Thu, 5 Apr 2001 03:51:30 +0100


The Loony Bin - http://loonies.net800.co.uk/

Hiya All...

Folks in different places can do some funny things...

Wishes & Dreams...

- ANDREA
        xx

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************ANDROMEDA******Internet Goddess************

  ------- Forwarded foolishness follows -------


SPANISH TOWN ABANDONS ANNUAL GOAT-TOSS

January 11, 2000 

MANGANESES DE LA POLVOROSA, Spain (AP) - Under pressure from animal
rights activists, the north-western town of Manganeses de la Polvorosa
will forgo the annual tradition of tossing a goat from a bell tower,
officials said Tuesday.

Tradition holds that the annual festival of St. Vincent - the town's
patron saint - cannot begin unless a goat is thrown 15 meters (50 feet)
from the bell tower and safely caught in a tarp.

The event, which has attracted fierce protests from animal rights
campaigners in the past, was scheduled for January 23 this year.

The councillors of Manganeses, however, said the town will not take
responsibility for the "behaviors of the participants in the spectacle," 
the state news agency EFE reported.

According to EFE, the town was fined about 25,000 pesetas ($156/150
Euros) last year by the regional government after the National
Association of Animal Welfare and Protection filed a complaint about the
throw.

In 1992, protests against the goat-launch persuaded the local governor
to ban the toss, and villagers had to content themselves with using
ropes to lower the goat. A year later the ropes were abandoned and the
ban defied.
 
The ban is still technically in place but is usually ignored.

The origins of the ritual are unclear, but according to one legend, a 
priest's goat - whose milk fed the poor - accidentally fell from the
bell tower and was saved by villagers holding a blanket.

Source:  Associated Press 


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