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Santa Águeda Espinosa de Henares Español
Wicker basket with a lace cloth, full of round sugar-dusted buns each topped with a red cherry in the centre, on a table.

Chapter 10 of 12

Aguedillas, limonada and brass band

They are shaped like a breast, recall the saint’s martyrdom and are made only for this festival. Aguedillas are the most serious and most fun treat of the day.

The aguedillas

They are a handmade sweet produced in the village for this festival alone. Their breast shape recalls what happened to the saint. Their history is relatively recent, but they have become a source of pride: they can only be tasted here, and more people ask for them every year.

Wicker basket with a lace cloth, full of round sugar-dusted buns each topped with a red cherry in the centre, on a table. (enlarge)

Buns and limonada

After the procession, the sisters treat everyone there to assorted buns and home-made limonada, which they prepare in the days before the festival. On the eve there has already been hot chocolate with a bun.

Two women in embroidered red skirts and shawls lean over a green bucket of drink with pieces of fruit, one with a ladle and the other reaching for a cup in a cardboard box; an older man in a blue sweater stands behind them. (enlarge)

The brass band

While the food goes round, people dance around what is left of the bonfire. The brass band sets the pace with a pasodoble or whatever it takes. It is the music that carries the parade, the square and the long lunch.

Musicians in lettered white sweatshirts and black trousers, seen from behind, play bass drum, saxophone and trombone in a square as two women in traditional dress dance in the centre; on the left, a small child watches next to the drum. (enlarge)

Photographs