Today is a very special day in San Sebastián, the jewel of Basque country and the location of BasqueStage. It’s Santo Tomás, which has little to do with Saint Thomas and a lot to do with celebrating winter, the arrival of Christmas, and, of course, food.

The streets are filled from the morning to night with the people of the city and its surrounding areas, many of them dressed in traditional caserio costume. What’s everybody doing? Eating sausage (txistorra) and talo, a sort of corn tortilla, both cornerstones of the Basque festival food scene.  And then, of course, the most important…the cider. Some say the festivities of Santo Tomas serve mainly to finish all the bottled cider from the previous year, in preparation for the cider season that opens at the beginning of January. The sheer amount of cider consumed here today is quite alarming.

Viva Santo Tomas!