Botellón

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Botellón is a custom that takes place mainly in the Spanish nightlife in which young people congregate at a plaza, park, street or any spacious public place to have alcoholic drinks and talk before entering nightclubs, pubs or discos, although it also attracts people who don't drink.

The word 'botellón' is an augmentative of 'botella' (bottle) so the literal translation would be "big bottle".

'Botellón' is also used to refer to a drinking pack consisting of an alcoholic drink bottle, soda and ice, so the word is also used in the Spanish equivalent of the phrase 'let's go buy the botellón.' It is also known as botelleo or botellona.

Contents

[edit] Origins

The origin of the botellón is unknown. Drinking on the street has always been permitted in Spain but botellón is a phenomenon that has appeared in the 90s and has been growing gradually.

The Times Online writes[1]:

"Binge drinking — once dismissed by Spaniards as an affliction of the British, German and other northern European hordes who descend on their country every summer — is gaining ground among their own youth."

One of the reasons people enjoy botellón is because buying alcohol in a supermarket or other shop is several times cheaper than buying it inside a club or a pub.

[edit] Characteristics

The botellón usually lasts between two to four hours and is the first thing that many people do when going out every weekend. Afterwards people may head to the nightclubs and discos of the area. In some cities it attracts over 3,000 people every Saturday night and is a central part of the nightlife.

On some special occasions, such as the start of the spring or in traditional Spanish fiestas, an unusually big botellon can take place in daylight instead of at night, drawing young people from several cities. Such events are often spread entirely by word of mouth and other social communications such as chain e-mail and sms. A botellón in Seville in 2004 [2]drew a whopping 70,000 people.

[edit] Amount of alcohol consumed

As with all events, the amount of actual alcohol depends on the tastes of the individuals present. A typical botellon might consist of 1 bottle of alcohol (0.75 litre whisky, rum, vodka, etc) per 3 or 4 people, mixed with ice and soda. Many people also bring beer, sangria, calimocho or other drinks, that range from wine to cheap forged cocktails. Some people choose not to drink alcohol at all, and may bring their own beverages to drink while enjoying the strong social aspect.

[edit] Controversy

Since prohibition of drinking on the street depends on the autonomous community, in some places botellón is not possible. In other places weather may prevent frequent opportunities for gathering outdoors. The activity is most widespread in the south where it is relatively warm year round, although the southernmost community of Andalucia forbade it on December 2006.

The main problems that botellón generates are:

  1. Noise: Since people in the botellón are always talking, depending on the amount of people it can be very loud and can disturb citizens nearby. Large car audio systems and motorbikes also contribute to the amount of noise, which is one of the reasons botellons often take place in the less populated areas of the cities.
  2. Dirty: Botellón tends to result in large amounts of litter, and quantities of urine as well. Some municipal authorities have created special cleaning plans to make the unofficial venues look clean the morning after, and attempt to charge participants to offset the costs. However, these cleaning plans can do nothing for private properties, often forcing homeowners to clean up after the night's festivities.
  3. Moral issues: Some find the botellón morally unacceptable. Drinking on the street is generally accepted by Spanish adults when there are traditional fiestas, but the moral issue with botellón whether it encourages young people to think that entertainment is all about alcohol. While young drinking is a controversial issue across the globe, botellón is a particularly open form of intoxication-based entertainment. It's also known that since botellón takes place in public places, it's unavoidable that many minors will be there. While the legal age for purchasing alcohol in Spain is 18 years of age, minors are still allowed to drink if an adult made the purchase.
  4. Traffic accidents: Many people drive every weekend to and from the location of the botellón. The result is that a considerable percentage of the driving accidents that occur in Spain are due to people driving back home from the nightlife.
  5. Security: Botellón is usually safe and in places where many congregate local authorities deploy security measures. But in some cases fights may arise between intoxicated individuals, leading to injuries in some cases.
  6. Economy: In some places the presence of many people near a hotel or other business can cause them economic losses. On the other side alcohol sellers and night clubs are positively affected.
  7. Health: It is well known that excessive drinking causes long term health problems. It can also cause immediate effects like alcoholic coma and death, and cases like these are not rare in Spain.

[edit] Measures against it (in Spain)

Since botellón usually takes place at night, in most places it has been forbidden to sell alcohol in the public after determinate hours. It can then only be purchased inside a club, pub, disco, etc. in which case alcohol cannot be taken out of the place where you bought it. This measure is currently easily avoided by buying the drinks before the selling limit hour, and keeping it at a residence or inside a vehicle. Since the enforcement of this measure is usually strong only in the botellón area, some shops far from the area will sell alcohol illegally after the limit hour, risking fines.

In some cities the botellón has been taken to unpopulated areas by force, generally with no resistance by the people displaced. This is made by the local police cordoning the area and advising people to go some other place. Sometimes modifications has been made to public parks so they can be closed by night, not allowing the entrance of any person.

Since most of these measures, including the prohibition of drinking in the street, have failed to end the activity, recently some authorities have begun opening special places where young people can make botellón without causing problems, usually in distant industrial parks.

[edit] Macro-Botellons events on March 2006

In March 2006 a botellon of around 5000 people took place in Seville to celebrate the end of the exams period. It was not an especially big botellón compared to others that take place during the year, but some media aired it on TV like a sensationalistic story.

That promted youths from many other cities to create other macro-botellóns (unusually large botellóns) in order to surpass the one at Seville, even in those cities where it is forbidden.

This was echoed broadly in the media and brought the debate about botellón into the public eye.

In cities, like Madrid, where botellón is forbidden, authorities deployed measures in advance to avoid the celebration, with some cases of confrontation between youths and police. In other ones, like Granada, where botellón is permitted, the authorities deployed special security measures to avoid problems in the celebration, concentrating up to 20,000 people into a controlled zone.

[edit] External links

[edit] Images of Botellons

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