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Santa Águeda Espinosa de Henares Español
Women in traditional dress, seen from behind with checked ribbons in their hair and embroidered shawls, watch a huge bonfire with tall flames; the flower-decked litter of the saint is visible on the left.

Candidacy

Towards Festival of National Tourist Interest

Espinosa de Henares aspires to this recognition from Spain’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism. It has been a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest since 1998, well beyond the five years required.

Why it deserves it

Order ICT/851/2019 asks for expressions «of cultural values and long popular tradition». Below is the Espinosa festival in light of each criterion.

The declaration has not yet been granted: the application, when submitted, is for the competent institutions to make. Text of the Order in the BOE.

  1. Origin, history and age

    An ethnographic study places it by supposition in the 16th-17th centuries, oral memory takes it back to the 19th century, and images and reports document it since 1958.

    History and age

  2. Continuity

    It is held every year; its most recent interruption was the Covid cancellations. Editions documented on this website: 1960, 1962, 1965, 1977, 1982, 1993, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026.

    Press archive

  3. Cultural value and originality

    A female government for a day with a draw, offices and a staff; its own legend of the woodcutters; a blessed bonfire; maneros, peleles and the dance of the wheel; an exclusive sweet, the aguedillas.

    The day, hour by hour

  4. Local roots and participation

    Some 180 sisters in a municipality of 715 people, a registered association, board, assembly and statutes, and families with three generations in costume.

    The Brotherhood

  5. Accommodation and services within 50 km

    A train station in the village, almost a hundred places to stay identified within 50 km, plus services and tourist offices in the area.

    Visit

  6. Care for the setting

    The festival takes place in the village centre, by the church and town hall, in the Henares valley. The permits and reports for each edition form part of the dossier.

  7. Promotion plan

    This website is the first piece: its own, in Spanish and English, accessible and responsive, with a forum and multimedia content. The festival also has a long history in the media, from ABC in 1960 to today.

    Press archive

Do you support the candidacy?

Tell us your connection with the festival in the forum. Every memory counts too.

Go to the forum