Cascamorras 2025 in Spain

The Cascamorras festival is not well-known outside of Granada province. Despite this, more than 20,000 people take part in this event every year. What do they do? They run through the streets of Baza covered with black oil and through Guadix city throwing colored paste! The sight is truly unforgettable.

Festival Highlights

In September, Guadix and Baza in Granada province experience one of the year's most anticipated events: the "Cascamorras." The two towns compete for possession of a statue of the Virgen de la Piedad. In 2013, the festival was recognized as a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in Spain. It's a vibrant, dynamic celebration, brimming with color and featuring enthusiastic participation from the community.

The Cascamorras Origins

The festival's origins are rooted in a captivating legend, with various versions, but the most widely accepted recounts an event involving a worker from Guadix, nicknamed Cascamorras. While building a church on the site of an old Mozarabic temple, he discovered a sacred image of the Virgen de la Piedad buried in the ground. Both Baza and Guadix claimed the find, and the tribunals decided that the image should stay in Baza but could be taken to Guadix for one day each year. However, neither town trusted this arrangement.

Before or after the tribunal's decision, the worker and his Guadix companions tried to retrieve the Virgin, only to have Baza residents reclaim it. When Cascamorras returned to Guadix empty-handed, the disappointed villagers scolded him and continued to venerate 'their' Virgin, who remained in Baza.

Baza then declared that if a representative from Guadix could reach the Virgin without getting dirty on the saint's day, they could keep it. Each year, the Cascamorras attempts to fulfill this challenge but has never succeeded, as he is pelted with eggs, flour, and olive oil.

Dates

Thus, the celebration takes place in Baza on September 6th and in the city of Guadix on September 9th.