Joaldun

Very close to the Bertiz Nature Park, in the enigmatic Malerreka Valley, the pretty villages of Ituren and Zubieta (Spain) hold their carnivals on the Monday and Tuesday after the last Sunday in January. Both villages organise a joint parade, declared a Fiesta of Tourist Interest in Navarre in 2011. On the Monday in Ituren and on the Tuesday in Zubieta, at around midday, a number of characters play a key part in this carnival: the bear, the beasts, the rams... All the same, the large cow bells tied to the hips of the Joaldunak (literally a person carrying a cow bell) definitely attract the most attention. When they cross through the woods between the two villages, the constant clanging of the cowbells is said to arouse the land from its long winter slumber so that it can once again be fertile in spring. Don't miss this event, one of the best preserved and most iconic traditions in Navarre.