Olentzero has received letters this year from many children in the Basque Country, as he usually receives every year; one has asked for his bike and the other for Play Station. And as he usually does every Christmas Eve, he will leave our charcoal under the pine trees of the houses for gifts. In response to all the letters, Olentzero faithfully complies with his annual appointment. But he got a letter from Pamplona. There they didn’t ask for toys, there are no children behind the letter, but the City Council of Pamplona. And what did he ask for? The money. The money. Olentzero is obliged to pay bail in the capital of the Foral Community.

In the neighborhoods of Pamplona, the charcoal has been participating in the horseback riding on Christmas Eve for thirty years. Accompanied by the Zanpantzar, the dancers and the musicians, Olentzero makes his way in the car pulled by the oxen, with the help of Mari Domingin in recent years. In addition, the admiration that the children say has been growing in the capital of Navarre, and instead of asking for gifts from the Beard Blanco or the Three Wise Men, there are more and more who ask for royalties from Olentzero, at least this is what Felipe Castel, a member of the cultural coordinator of the neighborhood of El Bierno, tells us. Last year the City Council of Pamplona wanted to know which Christmas character the children prefer and put the survey on its website. When 8,000 people voted, 88% said they preferred Olentzero. At that time, the survey “to be able to make some changes” was removed from the website by the City Council.

A powerful opponent

Despite the growing number of supporters in the city, the tripaundia has also suffered from setbacks. The first seed of this was sown in 2004. Castel tells us that “they had been saying for some time from the City Council that Olentzero’s horseback riding was being politicized, and in 2004 he put into effect the regulation of festivities.” The condition was that no posters or banners were shown during this celebration, and to guarantee this, the cultural coordinators of the neighborhoods had to pay a deposit of 1,000 euros. Once Olentzero’s parade has passed, the Pamplona City Council will decide whether or not to return this amount, after assessing how the parade for children has passed. “The neighborhood coordinator surprised us with this decision, and considering that this was an imposition, we decided not to pay.” In fact, Castel has informed us that “having to pay bail for doing culture seems to us an injustice.” And what should be

a holiday became a day of tension and nervousness. “In the first year they tried to impose a fine on the cultural coordinators and threatened to close our residences or file us,” he recalls. The case ended in front of the judge and Olentzero emerged victorious. “In 2006, seeing where they were going to oppose us, we kept saying we weren’t going to pay bail,” but this time they left the organization in the hands of private individuals. Even though they knew they were in danger of being judged, they did not want to put the residences of the cultural coordinators at stake. In this way, they searched for a large number of neighbors and each one was fined 1,500 euros, accused of carrying out the horseback riding of Olentzero without authorization, resorted to trial and won again.

Last year they finally presented a motion in the pleno hall of the City Council of Pamplona, denouncing that the issue of the bail bonds had neither leg nor head. With votes against the UPN, and supporters of the PSN, NaBai and the CAV-ANV, it was agreed not to interfere with the celebrations on Christmas Eve. “The UPN said it would not accept this decision, but one day before the parade they gave us permits”, and Olentzero made his annual visit to Pamplona without problems for the first time since 2004. However, the Cultural Coordinator of Chávea was fined for having shown photographs in favour of the prisoners. This decision is again in the hands of the judge, and the Jokreans await the resolution. In the end, it seems that the judge himself has become the main protagonist of Christmas.

For this year’s parade, Castel believes that in principle they will not have problems, since they have the support of the City Council, but they do not know what the UPN will say until the last moment, and insists that they can expect anything. From this point of view, we have gone to the citizen security department of the City Council of Pamplona to ask for an explanation, so that we can know if they are going to interfere with this year’s parades, as well as to get their point of view on the whole problem. The questions remain unanswered.

‘Clandestine’ Christmas

The controversy has been going on in recent years, as we have seen. And for not having paid the bail, numerous neighborhoods have repeatedly been in constant quarrels with the City Council. Among them are the Pamplona neighborhoods of Rosadia, Donibane, Santa Urlanda, Arrochapea, Jokrea or Etxebakoi; but although they are the ones who have paid the bail, other neighborhoods have also joined them.

“In the case of Mendillorri, for example, he initially had hard experiences with the police for not paying bail, and the children went through very bad times. So they decided to pay bail in the next few years, even if they didn’t agree,” Castel tells us. The presence of the National Police and the Local Police has been constant during the celebrations of recent years. “We’ve been avoiding places where there were cops to keep kids from noticing what was going on many times.” On other occasions, the traffickers who bring animals for the parade or the owners of tractors have been fined, preventing them from going out with Olentzero; in

a place where the marshes were changing, the police entered them and asked for their identification; once again, they prevented them from going on the road in Doniban and had to do the parade from the sidewalk... “Instead of celebrating Christmas Eve, it has often seemed to us that we are holding a clandestine meeting,” Castel adds.

These Christmas days are usually special, and Olentzero should be above all politics, because the coal industry does not vote in any election; it is part of Basque culture and not part of any party. Olentzero is limited to distributing gifts and illusion, leaving coal to those who have behaved badly.