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Luxury B&B Guest House Blog : Spring 2009
In order that holidays can be planned around events you really want to get to, I thought it would be helpful to map out some of the most important and most local Fiestas and Festivals that go on in Andalucia. Where I have been able to source some historical information I have posted it too ....
This is one to bookmark as the dates are pretty much year on year ...
Flamenco Festivals : These are Andalucia wide from mid January right through until the end of March. I have already written about the XIII Jerez Flamenco Festival, and will cover the Noches de Embrujo later on in the year but suffice it to say, evenings in Córdoba through August are breathtaking - "Magical Nights" in the ancient quarter with free Flamenco Shows ...
1st - 5th February celebrates the Dia de la Candeleria : The Feast of the Candles is traditionally to celebrate the end of olive harvesting. Families use olive prunings to build the bonfires. Candelaria (Night) is celebrated in many towns and villages across Andalucia and across the Spanish speaking world. La Candelaria is a reminder of the light of the Baby Jesus. It is celebrated in different ways but all involve candles and huge bonfires. I've already blogged about my extraordinary experiences in the North of Spain on this day - when horses with their riders came into the bars!
Varied Festival de Cadiz - This is the oldest festival in Spain and is world famous. Every year the parades get longer and more magnificent and the costumes get more stunning. The celebrations last for around 10 days but sometimes the locals get carried away. It is an event not to missed if you are lucky enough to be in Andalucia during carnival season.
ANDALUCIA - WIDE - Dia de Andalucia - 28th February - celebrated across Andalucia to commemorate the date of the successful referendum vote on autonomy. Nothing is open at all - ever!
ALGARINEJO - Carnaval de la Viña - falls around the end of Feb beginning of March depending on weekends - it's where one of my favourite restaurants is ...
MARCH / APRIL ...
SEMANA SANTA - EASTER HOLY WEEK ....
Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday}
Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday)
Holy Week - The Week preceding Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday) is celebrated across Spain with magnificent processions and floats …
Cabra:
Holy Week (Semana Santa), declared to be of touristic interest, is a majestic occasion of great splendour, with 17 processions, a total of 28 pasos (fraternities carrying floats depicting episodes of the crucifiction) and over two thousand nazarenos (penitent marchers dressed in robes and pointed hoods).
Carcabuey:
Holy Week (Semana Santa), all of the processions are worth seeing, but perhaps the most unusual is el Silencio (the Silence), in which the image of the Cristo de Ánimas (Crucified Christ) is accompanied by a multitude of torches, while the spectators remain completely silent, its passage along the Calle Alta street is especially beautiful, as the image of Christ is lifted above the rooftops, casting its shadow on the Calle Baja.
Iznajar:
Holy Week, the most typical feature of which is El Paso or the representation of Christ's Passion (La Pasión), performed in the parish church. Perhaps the most noteworthy of the processions are the one which takes place on Palm Sunday, in which both Jesus riding a donkey and the apostles who accompany him are real people, and the Jesus of Nazareth (Jesús Nazareno) Procession on Good Friday, also featuring live protagonists.
Priego de Cordoba:
Holy Week (Semana Santa), Priego's festival par excellence, the highlight of which is in the early hours of Good Friday, when the Virgen de los Dolores and Cristo de la Buena Muerte fraternities return to El Calvario Chapel (Ermita del Calvario). In the morning, the whole village congregates at St. Francis' Church (Iglesia de San Francisco), from whence the statue is carried out to be paraded through the streets.
And if you're thinking of coming for Easter please be warned, our Andalucia Guest House B&B has only one room left for Semana Santa .....
Seville Feria de Sevilla - The fair begins two weeks after Semana Santa. Celebrated with all night Flamenco dancing, bullfights, dancing in the streets and horse riding - People travel from all across Spain to come and enjoy the revelries.
GIBRALTAR - Gibraltar (UK) Commonwealth Day - 12th March
LA CELADA - Dia de San José - March 19th - a weekend of festivities, revellries, free food and celebrations for our village's Patron Saint. Games in the street for the children and adults alike, food and bar open later with disco during the night for the younger and young at heart! Our B&B Guest House is nearly fully booked for this Fiesta too!
APRIL
Luque - one of the Sierra Subbética villages celebrates St. George's Open-Air Festival (Romería de San Jorge), Sunday after 23 April - this festival is organised by the Hunter's Association, after mass, a variety of events follow, the traditional kid in sauce is eaten, along with hornazos (buns made with dough and oil, decorated with almonds and filled with hard boiled egg). A trap shooting competition is also staged in the country.
IZNÁJAR & All over Spain - Romeria de San Marcos - 25th April: Traditionally families spend the day in the campo picnicking, swimming in the lake and barbequing. It can go on long into the night!
I hope that's helpful - if you have any plans to come out and visit there are always a LOT more fiestas and festivals that don't get to me before I get to the typewriter ... so do ring and ask or alternatively, Google Fiestas in Andalucia!
Felices Fiestas a todos!
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