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Santa Águeda Espinosa de Henares Español
Women in red and yellow skirts and shawls dance in a wet square amid smoke from the bonfire, next to a man in a green jacket carrying a megaphone; houses and a cloudy sky lie behind.

The festival

A whole day upside down

From the bells on the eve to the midnight when power is handed back. Scroll down and watch the sky change.

Next edition: Saturday 6 February 2027. Times are approximate, taken from recent years’ programmes. The Brotherhood publishes the official programme each year.

Friday, the eve

The eve

The festival begins on the eve, with bells ringing and hot chocolate. In the days before, the sisters have prepared the limonada and buns they will hand out in the square.

Full-length statue of the saint in a green tunic and red-and-gold mantle, with a golden palm and cup, in front of a studded wooden gate and stone wall. (enlarge)The statue of the saint under a floral arch, shouldered by women in traditional dress, moves past an old stone house with peeling plaster; in the foreground, an older woman in black with white hair. (enlarge)

Saturday, first thing

Fetching the mayoress

Dressed in their costumes, the águedas gather at the door of the mayoress and councillors, and go to fetch them with music.

A large group of women in traditional dress, many seated on the floor with their purple, maroon and yellow skirts spread out, pose and laugh in a room with a terrazzo floor. (enlarge)Eight women in blue, yellow, red and purple skirts and patterned shawls pose under a blue sky with clouds, in an open space with trees behind and a blue portable cabin to one side. (enlarge)

Around 11:30

The staff and the proclamation

This is the central act. On the town hall balcony the mayor hands the staff of office to the mayoress and places the sash on her. Until midnight she governs on behalf of all. Beside her stand the two councillors drawn by lot from among the sisters, the Honorary Mayoress, a role model invited that year, and the Honorific Mayoress, one of the oldest sisters. The proclamation is read and the village answers with cheers.

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)A woman in traditional dress and a sash reads from a sheet at a microphone on a building's balcony, surrounded by other women with bouquets and a man; on the right, a photographer with pink-dyed hair takes pictures. (enlarge)

After the proclamation

Parade with brass band

From the Plaza de España, street by street, dancing with the brass band.

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)Women in dark shawls and red and yellow skirts dance in a circle in a square, in front of a pile of branches and tile-roofed houses under a pale sky. (enlarge)

Midday

Sung Mass and offering

The Mass is sung by the women, with an offering of fruit, sweets and flowers to the saint. In 2026 it was presided over by the Bishop of Sigüenza-Guadalajara.

Women in traditional dress and shawls seated in the pews of a church, one with a sheet of paper in her hand, follow the service. (enlarge)Elevated view of the interior of a church full of worshippers, many women in shawls, during Mass, with the altar and a priest in red in the background before a stone wall. (enlarge)

Midday

Procession and blessing of the bonfire

Saint Agatha comes out on the women’s shoulders under her arch of flowers and makes her way through the streets. At the bonfire the fire is blessed, one of the festival’s great symbols, and the Castilian jota dedicated to the village is danced around it as an offering to the saint.

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. (enlarge)Women in traditional dress, one with a sash, carry the saint's litter along a street under dark clouds with patches of blue; more women in traditional dress follow behind. (enlarge)A bonfire burns in the centre of a square as the flower-decked litter of the saint passes on the left, carried by women in traditional dress; neighbours gather before whitewashed houses in the background and two children play with branches on the right. (enlarge)

On the way back

The auction of the maneros

At the church door the procession stops and people bid for the honour of carrying the saint inside. The «maneros» are the handles of the litter. Sometimes a sweet is auctioned too. The proceeds support the Brotherhood.

Women in shawls and red skirts carry the saint's litter under a floral arch on a shaded street, beneath a deep blue sky and in front of red-roofed houses. (enlarge)Old black-and-white photograph: women in white aprons, knitted jackets and shawls shoulder the statue of the saint, without a floral arch, along a sunny street before a zigzag brick façade. (enlarge)

Early afternoon

Buns, limonada and dancing by the embers

The sisters treat everyone there to buns, home-made limonada and aguedillas, the village’s own sweet. Meanwhile people dance around what is left of the bonfire, to a pasodoble or whatever the brass band strikes up.

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)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)Women in traditional dress dance and clap in a circle beside the smouldering remains of a bonfire, in front of a whitewashed wall, accompanied by musicians in white shirts with saxophone, trumpet and trombone; a camera operator films the scene. (enlarge)

Lunchtime

The sisters’ lunch

One great table of sisters, amid laughter and jokes, with the brass band playing between courses. It is paid for with what has been raised and what each one contributes.

Long restaurant table with a yellow tablecloth, wine and cups, with dozens of women seated on both sides, many in patterned shawls, and two young women smiling at the camera in the foreground. (enlarge)Interior of a dining room packed with women in traditional dress, black satin blouses and checked ribbons in their hair, mostly seen from behind and chatting; one of them smiles at the camera. (enlarge)

Evening

The dance of the wheel

The Brotherhood pays for the dance. In the breaks, the wheel is for women only, and it is the women who ask others to dance.

Women in red and purple skirts dance in a sunny square casting long shadows, with the smoking remains of a bonfire and spectators behind, beside a wall with a sign. (enlarge)Women in traditional dress with colourful skirts dance in a circle in a sunny square, with spectators around them, in front of a wall with an illuminated greeting sign. (enlarge)

At nightfall

The peleles go on the fire

Leocadio and Leocadia, the two rag dolls passed from hand to hand all day, dance one last time and end up in the embers saved for them.

At night, a rag effigy dressed in red with a hat burns lying on branches; several standing figures and a car with its headlights on are visible in the gloom around it. (enlarge)At dusk, two effigies, one pink and one beige, lie on a large circle of straw in a square, while women in traditional dress and other neighbours wait around them under the streetlights. (enlarge)

Midnight

Things go back to normal

At twelve the mandate ends. As Miguel Mínguez wrote in 1991: «things go back to normal, and female power disappears». Until next year.

The smoking remains of a bonfire form a large circle of straw in a pink-paved square, surrounded by neighbours and women in colourful skirts, under a blue sky with clouds and in front of brick houses with red roofs. (enlarge)

Where and when

Dates and places

When. On the first Saturday in February, as set by the resolution of 31 August 1998 (DOCM no. 42). Saint Agatha’s liturgical feast is 5 February, and for decades the festival was held on that very day. The change was made «to make it easier for all our águedas to take part», as the mayoress Orcelina Torre explained in 2012.

Where. The town hall and the Plaza de España, and the Plaza Roja, as the local press calls it; the parish church of Our Lady of the Assumption; and the streets along the route.

The cycle. Saint Blaise, the village’s patron, on 3 February; San Blasillo on the 4th; and Saint Agatha. A saying recorded by Mínguez sums it up, naming each day of early February in turn and ending with Saint Agatha on the fifth.

Plan your visit