Horse festival stokes the flames of controversy

Residents defend fire ritual that has been denounced by animal activists

SAN BARTOLOME DE PINARES, Spain - Thick smoke fills the cobbled streets of San Bartolome de Pinares as the sound of galloping hoofs edges ever closer to a bonfire crackling nearby.

Suddenly a horse and its rider burst through the flames as the mysterious age-old festival of Las Luminarias kicks off in this village nestled deep in snow-capped mountains near Madrid.