The annual Las Luminarias festival takes place in San Bartolome de Pinares in Spain. The festival dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come.The horses are doused with water just before they enter the flames.
Horses run through bonfires at Luminarias festival in Spain
Luminarias festival is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come
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People ride their horses past a bonfire as part of a ritual in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, dozens ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the annual Luminarias festival
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana This tradition dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana San Bartolome is located about 100 km northwest of Madrid, Spain
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana A man rides a horse through a bonfire
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana Las Luminarias festival in San Bartolome de Pinares
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana Horse galloping through roaring bonfires at the Las Luminarias festival
© EPA-EFE/RAUL SANCHIDRIAN A man walks a horse in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain
© AP Photo/Felipe Dana