A Viña is our neighboring parish to the south, centered on the village of the same name. Before the 1970s, it was the only village around here that you could reach by road. Folks from the surrounding area went to swap whatever they grew or made at home.

Beginning in the 1970s, a network of narrow roads connected the villages with each other and with the outside world. That was the beginning of the end of A Viña's importance as a market place. Today, most of the buildings are empty and the movie theater is somebody's warehouse. The parish is much smaller in population than our Ambroa Parish, which, itself, isn't very large. Nevertheless, A Viña's few remaining residents celebrate the day of their patron saint with a small fiesta.
 

These pictures were taken on a cloudy Sunday afternoon, the first day of the two-day fiesta. The custom around here is to have an after-Mass preview of the band that will play later that night. The band plays a few songs while the folks stand around the concession stand (a bar, actually) drinking and talking while listening to the music. The band and the people come back at night for some serious dancin', drinkin' and talkin'.
 

Village fiestas are paid for by the parishoners and from fees paid by concessions such as the bar. Naturally, larger parishes can afford bigger, better fiestas with bigger, better bands. Our own Ambroa Parish is larger than A Viña plus Ambroa families are assessed a higher "quota" to finance our fiesta.

I didn't go back for more pictures Sunday night nor did I go on Monday, the second day of this fiesta. Marivi and I go to A Viña several times a week and we'll find out if the local folks considered their celebration a success. In a couple of months, we'll show you what a much bigger fiesta looks like - Ambroa's two-day San Ramon celebration starts on 31 August.