San Antonio is one of the most deeply rooted traditional festivals in Castellón.
The festival of Sant Antoni is celebrated on January 17 and the events in his honor are scheduled either on that day, on the weekends before, after, or even last until well into February. The point is that there are few municipalities in the province of Castellón that do not celebrate the festival of Sant Antoni. The vast majority of municipalities program events in honor of this saint, patron saint of animals, who has deep roots in the rural world and who still survive in our modern culture, sometimes a little distorted from their ancestral motivations and in other cases keeping all the essence of traditions that are kept and claimed by the municipalities of Castellón as authentic signs of identity.
The festivities in honor of the Saint herald the end of winter and already announce well in advance the desire for spring to arrive and with it, one of the most important moments for rural cultures, the sowing season. In the events that take place to celebrate Sant Antoni, fire is always present as a purifying element, sign of burning bad omens and times gone by. The fire is shown in the bonfires, some of them monumental that are burned in the main squares of the towns. These bonfires must be prepared, and the whole town participates in their preparation, collecting the firewood in the mountains or going through the houses to collect it, setting the bonfire, etc., in this work the knights have a special task and leave beautiful pictures filled of color and life.
After the burning of the bonfire, the animals are blessed and, generally, all the people who have participated in the blessing are given a typical sweet of this date.s that the residents of the town are in charge of making in a totally artisanal way. There are numerous forms that these sweets take: "primes", "cocs", "pastissets", "rotllos", ..., all tasty and great to regain strength and temper the body in these cold days, accompanied by also typical liqueurs such as the mistela or the muscatel.
The party usually ends with a festival or with the use of the embers of the bonfire to make succulent grills of typical sausages and lamb chops that are tasted among friends and guests.. In any municipality of the province we can attend these events that we are sure will surprise those who have never participated, however, we must highlight the celebration of San Antonio Abad in some municipalities that have more spectacular events such as Vilanova d ' Alcolea, a town where, in addition to lighting a monumental bonfire, it scatters pruning and stubble remains that are lit up and that horses and riders must cross through its streets.
Another municipality with acts that preserve all the ancestral flavor is Forcall, there the monumental bonfire becomes a "barraca" that is traversed in flames by the "botargas" (demons and temptations) that drag Sant Antoni inside. Borriol and the ascent of the spectacular firewood cart to the bonfire, Albocàsser and his preparation of the bonfire with horsemen that drag monumental trees, Vilafranca and its 'Publicata' of which we highlight the representation of the sacramental car of the "Life of Sant Antoni Abat", Benicarló with his "cremà del dimoni" and cavalcade , in which "you cry" and the "roll of cokes" are protagonists; they are, along with many other municipalities in the province of Castellón, towns where festivals with interesting, participatory and original events take place.
A series of traditions so deeply rooted in our land that it is worth knowing and enjoying them with your participation. Only in this way, you can know first-hand a fundamental part of our history and tradition. To access the original article from which this information has been extracted, we encourage you to access the PDF of the website turismodecastellon.com.
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Source - turismodecastellon.com