Women in traditional dress carry the flower-covered litter of the saint, seen side-on, past a large pile of green branches burning and smoking under a cloudy sky; behind them are a mural and golden crosses held aloft.

Espinosa de Henares · Guadalajara, Spain

The daywomenrule

Every February the mayor hands over the staff of office, and from that moment the women govern. There is fire, jota and a sung Mass, all organised by some 180 sisters in a village of 715 people.

Saturday 6 February 2027First Saturday in February

The day, hour by hour Twelve chapters

This is the story of a tradition passed down for centuries from mothers to daughters and from grandmothers to granddaughters.

Generation after generation, when no one else dared, the women of Espinosa showed that they too could rule.

When February comes, the bonfire is lit again. And so it will be until the end of time.

One minute of old photographs of the festival, in Spanish with English subtitles.

What sets it apart

Not a re-enactment. A government for a day.

In Espinosa, the role reversal takes the form of an institution: a mayoress and councillors chosen by lot, sash, staff and a proclamation from the town hall balcony.

And it has its own legend: two woodcutters who came to sell their load in a village short of firewood, just as the women were coming out of Mass. That wood, they say, ended up burning in the square. There has been a bonfire every February since.

Read the legend of the woodcutters