Mandatory Credit: Photo by Guillermo Gutierrez Carrascal/Shutterstock (14349015b)
Members of the brotherhood of the sardine are seen carrying torches lighting during the procession. The Sardine procession which takes place in Madrid, is a centuries-old Spanish tradition made famous by a painting of the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya called The Burial of the Sardine. It marks the end of Carnival celebrations and the beginning of Lent 40 days before Easter. It consists of a procession that parodies a funeral in which a symbolic figure of a sardine in its coffin is burned. The festivity takes place every Ash Wednesday and symbolizes the burial of the past and the rebirth of society.
Burial of the sardine in Madrid