Day of the Americas in Oviedo

Today Oviedo celebrated the Day of the Americas in honor of the Asturianos that have emigrated to various countries in the Americas.  There was a big parade featuring carrozas (floats) reprensenting each country as well as several musical groups representing Oviedo and Asturias.  Northwestern Spain has a strong Celtic history and culturally they share many things with other Celtic states such as Ireland and Scotland.  One of the most obvious is the gaita, or bagpipes.  The Asturian bagpipes are much smaller than the Scottish pipes and have a sweeter sound, as seen in the video above.  The group in the video is the Banda de Gaitas Ciudad de Oviedo and it also includes drummers and even accordion players.  We were happy to see so many female gaita players and the beautiful traditional costumes.  Here are a few pictures from the parade - I especially love the children in traditional dress: