CRONOGRANADA

Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi is perhaps the biggest festival in Granada. For a week the celebrations fill the city: it is the fair of Granada. There are flamenco performances in the stalls of the fairgrounds and in the centre of Granada, puppet shows or chacolines in the Plaza Bib-Rambla, a bullfighting fair, parades and the solemn Corpus Christi procession. Corpus Christi is usually celebrated in June, although the date changes from year to year.

The exact day of the festival depends on the Holy Week. You can find out the exact date of Corpus Christi Thursday by counting 60 days from Easter Monday.
Two important processions walk through the streets of Granada during the fair week: the Tarasca and the Corpus Christi processions.

 

Tarasca

If there is a characteristic character of the Corpus Christi Festivities in Granada, it is, without a doubt, the Tarasca. It is one of the most characteristic elements of our Fair, although its origin comes from French lands. If our Corpus Christi were to lack the presence of La Tarasca one day, perhaps it would not be our Corpus Christi. The fact is that every Wednesday of the fair this popular mannequin on its winged dragon takes to the streets is one of the most awaited moments of the year and one of the most genuine moments of the traditions of Granada.

It is well known that the mannequin of La Tarasca changes her costume every year, thus becoming a unique model whose wardrobe leaves no one indifferent, some because they consider her to be an inspiration for trends and others because they are never convinced by the clothes worn by this well-known woman from Granada who walks through the streets every Feria.

In any case, the history of the Tarasca parade is something that many people in Granada are unaware of. According to historians, its presence in the city's festivities dates back to the time of the Catholic Monarchs, who wanted the Corpus Christi festivities to be the main festivity in Granada and who even gave the inhabitants of the city the famous order to have so much fun that they looked like they were mad.

 

Conquest of Granada
The 2nd of January is the feast of the Taking of Granada. The event commemorates the moment when the monarch of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, Boabdil 'El Chico', handed over the city to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. The festivities begin with a visit to the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs in the Royal Chapel and a mass in the Cathedral. This is followed by a tour of Granada with a replica of the banner that Ferdinand the Catholic offered to the city. The ceremony concludes with the waving of the banner from the balcony of the Town Hall.

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Saint Cecilio

Every year on the 1st of February the image of San Cecilio is carried in procession from his church in the Campo del Prícipe, the heart of the Realejo neighbourhood.

The parish of San Cecilio and the brotherhood of Los Favores honour the patron saint of Granada and walk through the neighbourhood in a beautiful procession.
Tradition dictates a visit to the catacombs of the patron saint in the Sacromonte Abbey. Various religious ceremonies take place here during the weekend.

On Sunday the celebration on the mountain lasts all day. After mass hundreds of people gather on the esplanade and it is typical that beans and "salaíllas" are distributed free of charge.

There is also singing and dancing of "la Reja", and other typical dances, thanks to the groups and associations that come to perform on this day in Sacromonte.