Fiestas in Castilla la Mancha

La Endiablada – 2 – 3 February – Almonacid del Marquesado, Cuenca

At the start of the two-day-long ‘Fiesta of the Bewitched’, men and boys, gaudily dressed as ‘devils’, with cowbells strapped to their backs, gather in the house of their leader, the Diablo Mayor.

They accompany the images of the Virgen de la Candelaria (Virgin of Candlemas) and St Blaise in procession. As the devils dance alongside the floats bearing the saints’ images, they ring their bells loudly and incessantly.

Romeria del Cristo del Sahuco – Pentecost, May/June – Penas de San Pedro, Albacete

A cross-shaped coffin bearing a figure of Christ is carried 15 km here from its shrine by men dressed in white.

La Caballada – Pentecost – Atienza, Guadalajara

Horsemen follow the route across country taken by the 12th-century muleteers of Atienza, who are said to have saved the boy King Alfonso VIII of Castile from his uncle, Fernando II.

Corpus Christi – May/June – Toledo

One of Spain’s most dramatic Corpus Christi processions. The cathedral monstance is paraded in the streets.

More from Living in Spain

---