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Balmaseda
The mediaeval market in Balmaseda goes back to 1999, when the town celebrated the eight hundredth anniversary of its foundation, the first of its kind in Bizkaia.
Its extraordinary staging makes this market a landmark on the Basque cultural scene. The population throws itself into the event, donning period costume in a setting filled with standards and banners, with the streets filled with straw, plunging visitors into the mediaeval atmosphere of the days when Balmaseda’s trading activities earned it the category of a ‘Villa’, or town.
The activities, in which some 400 townspeople take part as actors, include musicians, jugglers, street performers and acrobats who fill the streets of the old town to announce the opening of the market, the centre of which is in the Plaza de San Severino. Not forgetting the falconers, of course, and the occasional snake charmer to be found in some corner of the town. The Plaza de San Severino hosts glass blowing workshops and craftsmen, potters and smiths, as well as weavers or spinners, among others.
Strolling players, singers, comics, troubadours, bigheads, balancing acts and acrobats are there to be enjoyed every year at this event. The Mediaeval Market is rounded off with night-time activities in which fire and spectacle combine to delight the public.
