El Entierro de la Sardina

The traditional "Entierro de la Sardina" (The Burial of the Sardine) is held every Ash Wednesday on Paseo de la Florida in Madrid with the men all dressed in black 19th century ensembles complete with top hats and capes. Women wear gauzy mourning veils over their black dresses, gloves and large hats. These Madrilians walk slowly in their funeral procession carrying a cardboard sardine in an infant-size coffin to the music of drums and confetti thrown at their feet. The coffin is theatrically and mournfully buried at the Fuente de los Pajaritos located in a huge park called Casa de Campo.