Cascamorras
Encyclopedia
The Cascamorras is a festival that takes place in the towns of Guadix
Guadix
Guadix, a city of southern Spain, in the province of Granada; on the left bank of the river Guadix, a sub-tributary of the Guadiana Menor, and on the Madrid-Valdepeñas-Almería railway...

 and Baza
Baza, Granada
Baza is a town in the province of Granada in southern Spain. It has 21,000 inhabitants . It is situated at 844 m above sea level, in the Hoya de Baza, a valley of the Sierra Nevada, not far from the Gallego River. This town gives its name to the Sierra de Baza...

 in the province of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, annually on September 6. The two towns fight for possession of a statue of the Virgen de la Piedad.

In 2006, the festival was declared a "Fiesta of National Tourist Interest of Spain
Fiestas of National Tourist Interest of Spain
The category of Fiesta of National Tourist Interest in Spain is an honorary designation given to festivals or events held in Spain and that offer real interest from the tourism perspective.- January :- February :- March :- April :- May :...

".

History

Guadix and Baza are two Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

n towns in the Province of Granada, neighbors, sisters and rivals. Cascamorras, a worker from Guadix, found a buried sacred image of the Virgen de la Piedad (Our Lady of Mercy) while working on the land of Baza. Encouraged by his Guadixan countrymen, he attempted to carry the sacred image to Guadix, but Bazans snatched it before he arrived, punishing what they considered a sacred theft. When Cascamorras returned to Guadix with empty-handed, his countrymen, who expected the image of the Virgin, were deeply disappointed and viciously pursued those they considered responsible for their frustration. Finally, hero and people reconciled, they prayed to the Virgin who was in the other town. Since then, recalling those events that unite and oppose them, Baza and Guadix celebrate Cascamorras Fiesta in the late summer of each year.

External links

  • http://www.cascamorras.org Asociación Cascamorras
  • http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_12284.shtml
  • http://www.istc.org/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=159026
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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