HORSES galloping through the flames in Spain is just one way how the country's patron saint of animals is celebrated.
The annual "Luminarias" festival honours St. Anthony the Abbot and is celebrated across a number of towns including Madrid and Mallorca.
Some townspeople say the celebration dates back five centuries to when the plague was fought with Roman Catholic rituals that used the smoke for purification.
San Bartolome de Pinares which is just outside of Madrid has kept its "Luminarias" festival alive with religious intensity and unswerving pride, fending off criticism from animal rights groups.
When agriculture was far more important, mules and donkeys also were led past the bonfires in a purifying ritual.
Now, horses are the only animals used.
Mayor, Maria Jesus Martin, insists no horse is forced to jump over the flames.
She adds: "Not one burn, not even one harmed horse.
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In recent years, tourists, journalists and photographers brought the ritual into the public domain, which has resulted in animal rights groups criticising the event.
Juan Ignacio Codina, one of the most vocal critics of the festival, said: "There is no logic in forcing these animals into a stressful situation against their own nature.
"In the midst of the 21st century, this is something from a bygone era. There is no superstition or belief that should justify an act of such cruelty."
Some people in the village think it would be better to return to a more moderate version of the festival.
They say branches of pine and shrub for the bonfires used to arrive in small quantities on the backs of donkeys, but now the fuel is hauled in by trucks and the bonfires are much bigger and the smoke thicker.
Others would also like to see a halt to the controversial jumping of the bonfires, since the original tradition only envisioned purifying the animals by walking them around and not over the flames.
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