Chapter 12 of 12
Tradition
Mothers, daughters and granddaughters in the same costume, and a Brotherhood determined not to let this end.
From generation to generation
There are sisters who spend the year waiting for February. The older ones look with emotion at the girls they watched grow up: those who were tiny now push prams of their own and are already sisters. One may see as mayoress a young woman she knew as a newborn. In more than one family, grandmother, daughter and granddaughter celebrate the festival together.
«Pride, identity, history, courage, unity, tradition, modernity, future and, above all, women. All that and much more is Saint Agatha.»
Step by step
The idea that keeps returning is that this must not end: to move forward a little each year, united, and to teach it to the little ones. The youngest thank their elders and promise to do the same with their daughters. In 1991 Mínguez wrote that tradition and the drive to preserve it had brought the festival this far «in the greatest splendour».
«As heirs, you keep their strength and courage. It is everyone’s duty to pass it on to the Águedas of the future, who are yet to be born.»
