Turns out today is San Canuto, a day that celebrates Saint Canute, a Danish monarch that devotedly supported the Catholic Church. Nowadays the celebration has little to do with Saint Canute and the Catholic Church and more with a play of words because in Spanish canuto means a joint of the smoking kind.
Every year students, and others, gather around the gardens of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid to smoke, drink and be merry before they are swamp with exams. The day is also used as a promotion for the legalization of marihuana.
While I think the festival is a great idea as long as it doesn't cause damages to the university I was completely taken aback by it because I had no idea it was happening. Around six in the afternoon I went out to have a coffee thinking the drumming was coming from a small gathering but really there was a lot a of people, A LOT! I swear everyone and their mother was there but apparently it is because students of other universities come as well. According to some of my friends Autónoma de Madrid is the only university where the festival is celebrated in Madrid due to its autonomous status which allows the students to be undisturbed by the police as long as there are no phone calls from the university's dean.
By the time I got out of the library the party was pretty much dead. The celebration dies down by the time Renfe closes because there is no way back to the city after that unless you can drive. which means that by 11:30 the party was over.
