Guide to Andalucia > Destinations > El Rompido > Events Calendar > Provincial Events

EL ROMPIDO. CALENDAR of Provincial Events

Influenced by the same climatological characteristics and the same idiosyncracies of the villages of the Cartaya region, there are also many festivals celebrated at regional level, the majority of them shared with the rest of the provinces across Spain.

Also, as in the case of local festivities, the cycle of fiestas can start in the spring, and in a manner that multiplies after the summer. The successive pilgrimages fill the almanac with festival dates. Verbenas (street parties), veladas (musical evenings), ferias, fiestas always revolving around the traditions, difficult to define in their origins, but easy to participate in; from the 'trajes de faralaes', traditional Andalucían taffeta-like constume events, to the horseriders and the decorated mounts of the fiestas, and of course, the flamboyant dances and the songs of the earth.

The festive cycle is clearly marked within the ambit of religion. The devotions to the Virgin Mary are the germ and the element around which the pilgrimages evolve: once a year, the chapels that enjoy the calm of the countryside are transformed into a fiesta of happiness and devotion. These open-air country pilgrimages, the exuberant cheer, the festivities and rituals, start at the very moment of the beginning the pilgrimage and culminate with the exit of the image of the Saint or the local patron saint on the shoulders of their devotees.

Often, these festivities will involve a feast or festive meal of typical local fare, which is prepared for that specific event alone and in its context presents the climax of this type of celebration.

One of these activities with a special, outstanding, importance in Huelva is Semana Santa, Easter week. This takes place with all the connotations and the local colour of Andalucía. Not simply centred in the moment of the Pasión de Cristo, but in the interpretation of the feeling, or sympathy, in great tragedy, combined with the meaning of spring and the artistic effervescence of the Huelva tradition.

Much later in the year, the celebrations of Corpus Christi and the Cruces de Mayo (Crosses of May) are also prominent in the panorama of tradition in the province.

Among the pagan celebrations (less numerous but no less important) the most outstanding has to be the Carnaval, with its religious connection to Lent (even though it evolved on the edge of that religious festival), especially the Carnavales in the coastal villages, which end with the Entierro de la Sardina o del Choco (burial of the sardine or cuttlefish; it makes sense on-site), to cite just two examples. Alas, wherever it is celebrated, it marks the beginning of a period of abstinence.