Final signature count: 32,185

32,185 signatures toward our 50,000 goal

Las Luminarias is an annual festival in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain. During the nighttime event, multiple huge bonfires are lit throughout the town. The smoke is thick and engulfing, and the embers naturally spark and sail into the air. Participants douse their horses with water, and then ride them directly through the raging flames of multiple bonfires.

Ironically, the tradition is supposed to purify the horse for the coming year, preventing illness or injury. But the flying embers singe fur and skin[1], fear and pain could easily cause a horse to misstep and come to harm, and inhaling the heavy smoke can damage their lungs.

Though the mayor of San Bartolome claims that the horses “don’t suffer anything at all,” their fear is obvious from the festival photographs[1]. Even if the horses make it through the festival physically unscathed, they experience intense terror when forced to jump through the flames. That terror is ignored as the rider steers the horse to the next fire[2].

Forcing a frightened animal to leap through the flames to “protect” them for the year is a ridiculous superstition and a cruel tradition. Tell the mayor of San Bartolome to end the use of real bonfires during Las Luminarias. If they must continue this tradition, stop terrorizing the horses and use symbolic fire instead.

Sign now to protect the health and welfare of innocent horses!