Rapa Das Bestas

At 5pm Friday I was told I would be leaving the next day to cover a traditional festival called "Rapa Das Bestas" (that's a Galician term for Shaving the Beasts). It started in the Bronze age when people lived out among the wild horses, and would shave their manes and tails in the summer to keep them cooler. But now it's a tradition, where people from small villages gather horses from the mountains then herd them into the town where they tackle each horse and remove their hair. As you can imagine it gets quite wild in the ring and I'm happy to say that I'm still alive, even though I was in there with them today! It is going to turn into a great story, I think, as we continue gathering content (photos and audio) from various other villages that do the Rapa Das Bestas. I am working with a Galician student, Jessica, who does audio and a graphic designer and infographics person. The good news is, our deadline to have all the photos turned in is July 17, so I will have some free time in Spain! Look for more photos once I have more free time. I shot over 1,000 the first day, but I'm going on a 250/day diet from now on. Now I'm headed to bed because we're up early again tomorrow.