Festivals and Traditions
For our section, consisting of traditions and festivals, we had to face a bit of a challenge: What did Ankara’s citizens at large actually know about Spanish culture? What can we brush over and what do we need to explain? How specifically Úbeda do our festivities have to be? In the end we realized that, since we know basically nothing of Turkish culture, they probably don’t know that much about Spanish culture either. We’ve opted for including our carnival and fair, even when they’re not uniquely interesting in context as we believe that it’s best for them to know about Spanish traditions more broadly.
Music Festivals
Although Úbeda is a relatively small town of only 30 thousand inhabitants, it punches way above its weight when it comes to music festivals, being a true center for the arts in Andalusia. Here are some of the musical happenings we celebrate around the year.
Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza (Ancient Music Festival of Úbeda and Baeza): Úbeda and its neighbouring Baeza are home to one of a kind festival dedicated to classical and popular music of the Baroque era (XVII century) and prior, featuring many ensembles with period instruments.
Festival de Música y Danza Ciudad de Úbeda (Úbeda City Festival of Music and Dance): A classical music festival that’s over 35 years old that has included some of the world’s greatest players and ensembles, as well as distinguished dance groups.
Festival Flamencos y Mestizos (Flamencos and Half-Breeds Festival): One of the most recent festivals of Úbeda, it centers around an incredibly innovative genre: Flamenco fusión (flamenco music mixed with other genres like jazz, rock and latin). A great way to learn about this World Heritage tradition.
Festmuve: Úbeda’s summers are lit up with great live performances by acclaimed Spanish groups and singers of genres such as pop, reggaeton, and afamed cantautores (people that are singers, song writers and guitar players all at the same time).
Traditions
Romería Virgen de Guadalupe
At the beginning of May, there is the pilgrimage of the Virgin of Guadalupe, our patron saint.
Carriages, horsemen and pilgrims go to the Gavellar hermitage, which is 5 kilometers from Úbeda and bring it to Úbeda, where it will remain until September.
Feria
This event begins in late September, from the 28th of September to the the 4th of October.
Here you will have an amazing experience, where you can get on all of the atractions you want, and do more enjoyable things such as having a meal and enjoying some live music.
Carnaval
This kind of festival usually starts on the second week of February, from the 8th to the 17th.
In this kind of festival you can wear any costume you want, and go to places where everyone is at, and there you can see the other costumers, and drink and eat whatever you want.
Semana Santa (Holy Week)
Without question the Semana Santa is the biggest, prettiest and most traditional of all our city's festivities. This celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazaret combines religion and folklore in a mixture like no other.
Brief history
As in many cities in Spain, particularly those in southern Andalusia, this tradition dates back to the XVIth century, during a time in Church history when the distance between priests and their congregation shrunk. As a way to teach illiterate people about the story of Christ, small processions started to carry images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and other characters from the Gospel around town. Since then, the Semana Santa has grown into a huge and complicated festivity, in which lots of people partake in a variety of roles.
The processions
Penitentes
This unique attire is a true simbol of the Semana Santa. It's main element is the capirote, that pointy shaped hat that hides the faces of those who wear them, so that they can repent in privacy. Its shape is symbolic of the believer's connection to Heaven and God. The costume also includes a tunic and sometimes a cape. Each procession has its own unique version of the penitente, depending on the cofradía (fellowship) that partakes in it.
Tronos (thrones)
One of the most characteristic features is the presence of 'tronos' – huge ornate floats that are carried through the streets of the city by hundreds of members of, what are called, brotherhoods (cofradías in Spanish). The thrones can show particular Bible scenes or Virgin and Christ images.The people who carry the thrones are called costaleros.
Imágenes (images)
These masterful sculptures are one of the most valuable and important pieces of the Semana Santa, their presence inspiring reverence from Catholics and non believers alike. In Úbeda these images had to be rebuilt after the Civil War in the so-called 'baroque' style, as they model themselves after sculptures of the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. The most important sculptor for Úbeda's Semana Santa was Francisco Palma Burgos, from Málaga, responsible for the greatest pieces in our city.
Music
All the processions are lead by a band which contains a section of bugles and a section of drumbs. In each section there is a leader who is in charge of keeping the rhythm. Every musician marches coordinated with each other. The other bands in the procession is the one behind the thrones, be them Christ thrones or Virgin thrones, which is a regular marching windband. Moreover some processions in the band only have drumbs like "SANTO ENTIERRO" or only trumpets like "LA SOLEDAD" but the other processions have trumpets and drumb in the band like "SANTA CENA" .
Watch a summary of last year's Semana Santa