Exciting Fiestas and Folklore in Santiago and Burgos

Santiago and Burgos are two places in Spain that sport a variety of fiestas and folklore. Santiago itself is renowned for its pilgrimage fiestas that are festively celebrated by the locals. Many of Santiago’s fiestas are traditional and religious in nature.

Burgos offers folklore of varied origins. Archaic traditions since the Iberian Peninsula’s cultures stretch all the way to the Moorish, medieval and Re-Conquest Christian influences to form a variety of fiestas with plenty of folklore developed and entrenched in the lives of the inhabitants along the way.

Religious Fiestas

Easterweek or Semana Santa is widely and reverently celebrated in Santiago and Burgos with festive processions. The fiesta may start off in great solemnity on Good Friday with prayers and processions but the mood takes on a different tone on Sunday as Easter is celebrated with pomp and gala.
Folklore celebrations

The month of May celebrates the Feria del Ganado festival that goes on for 10 days with folkloristic groups’ performances and culinary delights as this is also a culinary fiesta. There are numerous tantalizing gastronomic delights from the region to be savored.

The Corpus Christi festival celebrates the victory over the Moors in 1212 with a Curpillos procession. There is also the San Juan del Monte fiesta with spectacular and colorful traditional outfit processions to the delight of the tourists. There are correspondingly beautiful horse coaches in full decoration for the festival.

In Burgos on June 13th, a traditional festival Danza de los Palos features picturesque dresses. At the end of the month, a series of fiestas commences with bullfights and other exciting regional folkloristic exhibitions.
The end of July in Santiago brings one to the Apostle’s Festival where spectacular fireworks are displayed at night in front of the town’s cathedral. Mass follows on the following day with a large incense font fixed on the cathedral’s ceiling with a rope as it swings through the nave of the cathedral.

The month of August celebrates a unique fiesta in Burgos, specifically at Espinosa de los Monteros where an ancient pagan ritual war dance festival is celebrated.
Artistic festivals

The last quarter of the year ushers in the entertaining Festival of Classical Music where plenty of concerts and musical performances are presented. There is the Canta la Mora which is a traditional Moorish dance held in Burgos on September 8th while September 12th showcases a horse coach parade known as Desfile de Carrozas in Miranda del Duero.

Tourists would enjoy the numerous fiestas of various characteristics anytime they visit Santiago or Burgos throughout the year.