Battle of the Rats in El Puig

To those who haven’t grown up in Spain there do appear to be a number of rather strange local customs, none more so than the Battle of the Rats.

Throwing rats to celebrate Saint

Basically, the original idea was that the people of the town of El Puig de Santa Maria in Valencia used to celebrate the feast day of San Pedro Nolasco which has moved from January 31, to January 28.

They used to construct cucañas – a kind of piñata in a clay pot, which were filled with nuts, beans and fruit, but these became tempting treats for local rats and as the cucañas were being bashed, often the odd rat would drop onto the heads of the local people.

Some bright spark decided that it would be a good idea to round up the rat population on an annual basis, and having killed them, stuff them into the cucañas to add some extra fun to the proceedings.

The next step was for those in crowds who got hold of a dead rat to throw them as hard and far as they could and this continues to the present day, except that rather than kill the rats randomly, they are obtained humanely killed.

Nowadays, a gang of young men are recruited to smash the cucañas and let the sweets and rats cascade onto the streets.

There is a lot of good comes out of the celebration, with food being prepared (no ratatouille) over open fires to feed those who may be hungry and there is a blessing from the local priest and dancing but there is also rat hurling!

Would rubber rats be a good substitute?

The animal charity AnimaNaturalis considers that this activity “is a degrading celebration that not only directly harms the specially bred rats but also contributes to trivializing their lives under the watchful eye of the youngest, who learn that using the bodies of dead animals for fun is okay.”

The group proposes therefore that instead of dead rats, revellers should use rubber rats as part of an ongoing programme by different communities to maintain traditions whilst not involving cruelty towards animals.

Follow this link to see the Battle of the Rats as posted by AnimaNaturalis.