Animal rights activists have spent the afternoon filing criminal complaints against anyone they could think of, after a live turkey was thrown off a church tower in Cazalilla, Jaen this afternoon.
It’s one of the lovely traditions the Yanks eulogise, where to celebrate some damn saint, the locals have nothing better to do than to take a live turkey up three flights of stairs before throwing it out of a window. Well, at least it wasn’t a donkey this time.The Junta de Andalucia had warned that the tradition is banned under regional animal protection laws, but that didn’t slow anyone down.
The bird was reported to have glided well, before landing on a roof, whereupon several neighbours shinned up a drainpipe to leap on it and stuff it back in its cage.
The local townhall, which advertises the festival on its webpage at the same time as saying it doesn’t approve of it, reckons they’ve been doing this since the end of the 19th century.
It seems that two major feuding families reconciled after their children got married on the 3rd of Feb. To celebrate this (here the story becomes a little confused) the locals toss a turkey on San Blas day, and also have a parade and a party.