It's Groundhog Day, but don't spend the day shivering outside the den of a cantankerous rodent--that's tired. Devil parades and maidens doing questionable things to roosters--now that's where it's at! Explore the cultural roots of February 2nd in the festival of La Candelaria, or Candlemas. La Candelaria, a Christian celebration with pagan roots, is celebrated in many interesting (and sometimes twisted!) ways.
In towns all over Spain, parades, feasts, and general carousing honor the anniversary of the day Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth, in order to perform the required sacrifice of purification. Called "the feast of candles," the reference to light in La Candelaria is a reminder of the light of the baby Jesus. Wherever it's celebrated, Candelaria is a time of purification. And at its pagan roots, the day marks the middle of Winter and the promise of spring. But if you could visit all the towns in Spain today, you'd see the variety of ways it's celebrated around the country.
Start your journey in Madrid, whose celebration of La Candelaria is one of the most popular in the country--though we're not sure what it has to do with Jesus. Clowns dressed as Andalusian farmers bring out "vaquillas" (young bulls), made of wooden frames with two horns. "Bullfighters" from Manila, dressed in multicolored silk pants, carry lassos and wear paper flowers and belts, and perform hilarious mock bullfights around town all day long. At the end of the day in the town plaza, the bull is "killed," and sangria is communally passed around, symbolizing the blood of the bull.
Perhaps you're not a bullfighting fan, even when it's with wooden bulls. Who knows? Maybe you like sausages. Well then head to A Pobra de Trives, Ourense, where the "Festa dos Chourizos," or the Festival of the Sausage, draws people from miles around to eat homemade roasted sausages around bonfires (presumably symbolizing huge candles). In other towns, parades and processions are the order of the day. In Malaga, for example, a young girl from the village leads the Parade in Honor of Our Lady of La Candelaria, eventually reenacting the presentment of Jesus at the Temple. Menasalbas, Toledo, holds a horseback parade in which 11 riders and their 22 lackeys carry torches through town.
Still, parades and sausages might not float your boat. But never fear, there's plenty more to choose from--dancing, feasting, and horse races occur in many nooks and crannies of Spain. And a devil parade. Yes, in Almonacid del Marquesado, Cuenca, hundreds of "devils" dress in colorful outfits and jump and dance through the streets.
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