EuropeanKids 2001/2002 ALHAURÍN DE LA TORRE (C.P. Zambrana)    [ AYER Y HOY ] [ YESTERDAY AND TODAY ] [ LA CASTAÑERA ] [ THE CHESTNUT_SELLER ] [ FIESTAS ] [ FESTIVALS ] [ DÍA DE ANDALUCÍA/ DAY OF ANDALUCIA ] [ CARNAVAL/CARNIVAL ] [ FIESTA DE FIN DE CURSO / END OF SCHOOL YEAR ] [ PARQUE DE LAS CIENCIAS ] [ SCIENCE PARK ] [ ALHAURÍN - RIGA ]

CORPUS CHRISTI Sixty days after Easter we celebrate Corpus Christi. It is a religious festival in which we celebrate the Consecration of the Bread which transforms itself into Christ´s Body (Corpus Christi). It has been very celebrated with a procession in Spain as a tradition. We take out the Holy Form, inside the Custody, under a kind of throne. The children who have taken their first Communion that year go with the procession. They carry baskets full of flowers and they throw them as the Custody passes by. People make altars in some houses. The procession stops in front of them and then, the priest blesses the place. Lately, we celebrate Corpus Christi on Sunday. In other places, like Granada, they still celebrate it on Thursday. Here there is a saying: There are three days in the year That shine more than the sun: Corpus Christi, Maundy And Rising day.    LA CANDLEMAS On February 2th we celebrate Candlemas, the Purification of the Virgin and the Introducction of Jesus Boy in the temple. The name Candelaria cames form Latin Feste Candelarum which means candle power. In Alhaurín de la Torre this fest is called the Virgen of the Rosca since the XIX century. The story says that in a pilgrimage a little girl was lost. Everybody was looking for her all around the mountains during some days. In their desperation, they prayed to the Candlemas Virgin. When the little girl appeared, she explained that a very beautiful women dressed in white and with a red cap offered her bread and somewhere to spend the night in order not to be cold. As she stared at the Virgin in the church she recognised the face of the women in the Virgin´s one. Since then, and as a way to give thanks, all the people form the village gave the Virgin a loaf of bread with a green or violet laze. In the day of the Candlemas a mass is celebrated and there loafs of bread are blessed and then distributed between the people. New born children are as well introduced to the Virgin. Then a procession takes the streets and the women play the main role. Outside are candelas born out.