Horses jump through fire at Spanish village festival

Once every winter, thick smoke begins to swallow up the houses in this village in the barren lands of Avila, northwest of Madrid. It means the town's bonfire festival honoring St. Anthony the Abbot has begun.

The music of a small bagpipe and a drum drift through the gloom. Then comes the clack of hooves on the cobblestone street. Suddenly, the flames roar up and horses and riders emerge to begin leaping through the flames.

St. Anthony the Abbot is the patron saint of domestic animals, and some townspeople say the celebration dates back five centuries to when the plague was fought with Roman Catholic rituals that used the smoke for purification.

San Bartolome de Pinares has kept its "luminarias" festival alive with religious intensity and unswerving pride, fending off criticism from animal rights groups.

When agriculture was far more important, mules and donkeys also were led past the bonfires in a purifying ritual. Now, horses are the only animals used.

In recent years, tourists, journalists and photography aficionados have put attention on the ritual, which has come under attack from animal rights groups.

The government of Castille and Leon, the region where San Bortolome sits, replied that veterinarians sent by authorities couldn't find any injuries on the horses from the bonfires.