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Did you know...? |
• Huelva and Ayamonte Holy Week are considered as being of "National Touristic Interest".
• There are 135 brotherhoods participating in El Rocío.
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Like any other place in Spain, Huelva has a good number of popular traditions and festivals,
which reflect the “local colour”. And just as happens elsewhere in the country, most of these
popular festivals have a major religious element; although their Andalucian character means that
there’s more of a mixture of solemnity and “merrymaking” than in other areas.
Naturally, a prominent feature of this “local colour” is that, thanks to Huelva’s benign climate,
many of these celebrations are held out of doors.Another feature is that Huelva’s popular festivals
place great importance on food (with traditional dishes, some of which are only made during the
particular festival), and on singing and dancing...
br>
Huelva’s most popular religious feast is the universally-known El Rocío Pilgrimage. Thousands of
devout souls flock to the small Almontese village to pay homage to the Virgin Mary and to bask in
her presence; and on the way, to savour the unique experience of following the pilgrimage route.
This they’ve been doing for over seven hundred years now, in steadily growing numbers (over 100
brother -and sisterhoods take part, one even travelling all the way from Brussels). During the
week leading up to Whit Sunday the road to Almonte and the village of El Rocío will be a mass of
colourful horse-drawn carriages and perspiring pilgrims; and the air will be filled with dust, the
sound of chanting and, above all, intense devotion.
The Holy Week festivities in Huelva, although they’re outshone by the spectacular festival held in
Seville, and they’re on a smaller scale (but for that very reason they’re more intimate and homely),
have been declared of National Touristic Interest. For a week and a day, from Palm Saturday to Easter
Sunday, twenty-six brother- and sisterhoods move in procession through the streets of the capital –a
royal sight at times, as well as giving onlookers the opportunity to “discover” special nooks from
which to admire the carvings as they’re carried past.
One of what are known as the “minor” pilgrimages has also received the honour of being declared of
National Touristic Interest; this is the Pilgrimage of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles of Alájar.
It’s a tradition which goes back to the 16th century but which was consolidated in 1843, when the
Church gifted to the people a place called La Peña de Arias Montano (Arias Montano Crag), to avoid
its being expropriated –an event which is commemorated every year with a symbolic “scaling of
the crag”.
But practically every locality has its own pilgrimage, beginning just after Easter Sunday and going
on until the end of the summer. This period is so chock-a-block with local festivals –nearly all of
them in honour of the place’s Patron Saint or the Virgin Mary– that one could go from place to place
and from festival to festival without a break during almost the entire spring, and all summer long.
Less solemn than the pilgrimages and processions are the carnivals, for which there is a great
tradition in Huelva, going back several centuries (once again, this tradition is unknown because the
carnivals are eclipsed by bigger ones –in this case those of neighbouring Cádiz). The main ones are
the Columbus Carnival, celebrated in Huelva city, and the Isla Cristina Carnivals, with a
centuries-old tradition of people letting their hair down and having a lark.
There are many more festivals in the province of Huelva throughout the year: mediaeval events,
food days, flamenco singing and dancing, grape harvest festivals ... all of them springing from the
joy which wells up from the earth in this place.
Sierra Black Leg Cured Ham
As for traditions, one of the most deeply-rooted ones in the Sierra, and which is handed down in
families from generation to generation, is the slaughtering of the Iberian pig –it even has its own
festival, as in Campofrío, but the slaughter of every pig is a “fiesta”. This goes on during the
months of January and February. This tradition, apart from drawing visitors and being a way of
keeping the local culture alive, is also a method of getting in stores of fresh frozen and cured
pork, ham and sausages to last the whole year through.
The flamenco is another expression of Andalucía’s soil. Although the “life” of the flamenco as such
goes back for only a couple of centuries, its roots are considerably deeper. The Arab and gypsy
influences are patent; however, it could be said that the flamenco is an amalgam of the folk
culture of all the peoples who have lived in the South of Spain. And it’s precisely the large
number of cultures which have lived together (but not necessarily got on together) here that has
produced the series of characteristic styles of singing, guitar playing and dancing which go to
make up that “being” which we call flamenco.
The “hard core” of flamenco is sited in between Seville, Cádiz and Jerez de la Frontera; but all
the Andalucian provinces have their patch of influence. Huelva, accustomed as it is to doing its own
thing rather than apeing Seville, has developed a style of its own, whose main expression is fandango;
this apparently originated in the Huelvan township of Alosno, as there are written references to it
there from the year 1492. Many theorists consider that it’s the most primitive form of flamenco
singing... and that it’s been in existence since long before a “flamenco” properly speaking
existed!
Last but not Least
Fandango, which started out as a dance, underwent a thorough transformation after it was put with
flamenco, and many of its current variants are flamenco songs for listening to.
Huelva’s “fandango trail” runs from south to north, taking in the areas where the different styles
of fandango have progressively evolved. From Huelva, on the coast, to Encinasola, in the sierra,
passing through Alosno, El Cerro del Andévalo, Valverde del Camino, Calañas…
And among the hundreds of traditions which await the visitor is that of the Round-Up of the Marsh
Mares, which takes place in Almonte. This is a centuries-old tradition whereby once a year, towards
the end of June, the livestock farmers round up the mares and foals from amongst the horses which
live wild in the Doñana Salt Marshes, and herd them through the village of El Rocío to the town
of Almonte. Once there the foals are marked and their manes and tails are trimmed. Some of them
are sold, but the majority are released back to the marshes.
All these feasts and traditions are just an example of the ones the province celebrates. It’s
worth while coming here and seeing them at first hand –it’ll be quite an experience, and an
unforgettable sight for those visitors who have the good fortune to take part in them.
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