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Santa Águeda Espinosa de Henares Español
Six women stand on a step in front of a building: five in traditional dress with yellow, blue and red skirts, several with sashes and bouquets and one with a wooden staff, and another in a black coat.

Chapter 5 of 12

Mayoress and councillors

A mayoress and two councillors drawn by lot among the sisters, an invited role model and a tribute to one of the eldest. A government with all its parts.

The draw

Every year the sisters draw lots to decide who will be mayoress and who councillors. Because it is by lot, the staff can fall to anyone. Two more figures join them. The Honorary Mayoress is an invited guest, a role model who also helps make the festival known. And the Honorific Mayoress is a tribute to one of the oldest sisters.

Six women stand on a step in front of a building: five in traditional dress with yellow, blue and red skirts, several with sashes and bouquets and one with a wooden staff, and another in a black coat. (enlarge)

Sátur, the first

The first mayoress the village remembers was Sátur, around 1965 or 1966. Those who spoke with her in old age recall how moved she was when talking about the festival, and how she enjoyed seeing the young women in their costumes. Many see her as a role model, because it was she who passed the festival on to them.

The memory matches the records. The oldest image of a mayoress in the 1991 study dates from 1965: her proclamation on the balcony, beside the mayor. Reports from 1960 still spoke in Espinosa of a Brotherhood for married women only; in time it opened to «women of all ages».

«Today it is taken for granted, but they did what could not be done when it could not be done.»
On the honorific mayoresses (translated)
Old black-and-white photograph: a man in a suit and tie and a woman in a headscarf, dark shawl and white apron, holding a staff, talk on a wrought-iron balcony against a zigzag brick façade. (enlarge)
Documented mayoresses
YearChief MayoressHonorary MayoressSource
1965-66Sátur—Oral memory: the first mayoress remembered
2000—Cristina HoyosABC
2005—Veruska RamírezEl Decano de Guadalajara
2010*Araceli Elvira BrisMª Luz RodríguezNueva Alcarria
2011Domi SepúlvedaElena de la CruzNueva Alcarria
2012Orcelina Torre LorcaAna GuarinosNueva Alcarria
2014Ana Isabel del MoralSandra SopeñaNueva Alcarria
2016Palmira CalvoAmparo AguadoNueva Alcarria
2020Ana Gregorio PueblaNieves Herrero (guest of honour)Nueva Alcarria
2022Dolores García—Nueva Alcarria
2024Sara PérezYolanda Matarranz; Laura Galán (guest of honour)Nueva Alcarria
2025Elena Díez BarónBegoña Pérez «La Ordenatriz»—
2026Consuelo Cortes Blanco—Brotherhood correspondence

Only years and names found in the documents consulted are listed; the list is not complete. *Year according to the online edition’s stamp. Anyone with programmes or photographs showing sashes can help complete it in the Community section.

Photographs