La Vijanera is a fiesta of festive nature that takes place in the town of Silió ( Molledo),

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

(

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) on the first Sunday of each year. Due to its popularity and tradition, it has been declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest.La Vijanera, of National Interest, in ''El Diario Montañés''
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The fiesta

Originally, La Vijanera was celebrated in the valleys of Iguña, Toranzo, Trasmiera, Campoo and Polaciones but now the only place in the region where it is just Silió. The first carnival of the year in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

is a colorful masquerade involving approximately 60 characters (all male), ''la madama'', ''el mancebo'', ''los trapajones'', ''el oso'' and ''su dueño'', ''el pasiego'', ''el caballero'', ''la Pepa'' or ''Pepona'', ''el médico'', ''el domador'', ''el húngaro'', ''el viejo'' and ''la vieja'', all dressed in a colorful and own function and symbolism. But the real stars of the festival are los zarramacos because of the importance of their role. These are people dressed in sheepskins and weevils hats in addition to carrying the face painted black that will ward off the evil spirits during the year that jingling bells that are tied to the body. Its mission is to expel these spirits of the town coming up to the limits, tradition that points to much more ancient probably from the Roman times. The second part of the celebration is to review the year end. The Vijaneros waiters gather at the town square and read some verses that, in popular language and tones ranging from jocularity to the cruelty, analyze what happened in the past year from local to international. The fiesta ends with two acts, first produced "la Preñá", ie the calve or birth of the new year. After that, La Vijanera concludes with the death of the Bear, which symbolizes the victory of good over evil and the desire of good intentions for the new year. As can be seen in this fiesta represents the desire to banish the last year and pave the way to the next year to begin with enthusiasm and good wishes. Perhaps because of this that the Roman god

Janus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (''Ianu ...

is responsible for chairing La Vijanera. In fact, ''Janus'' in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

derives from ''Jauna'', ie gate, so it may want to mean "gate between two years" if it consider the prefix vi-(''bi''-, two). As an incentive to the celebration itself, in recent editions has established a photography prize. On the other hand, are plans to build a Museum about the holiday in Silió, among other things contain images of the party. Both initiatives have been promoted by the Asociación de Amigos de la Vijanera, head of the organization and retrieval of this event for more than 25 years after its disappearance in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

References

External links

Page about La Vijanera

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vijanera Culture of Cantabria Festivals in Spain Carnivals in Spain Tourist attractions in Cantabria Winter in Spain

The fiesta

See also

References

External links