FEBRUARY

The brotherhood of San Esteban de Poleniño celebrates a party with lunch and dinner in Monegros. In the lunch, they take salmorrejo and garlic soup; and for lunchsoup, stuffed eggs, and meat with potatoes.

La Candelaria, the festival of fire, owes its name to the celebrationwith burning candles inside the temples. Many areas of Huesca venerate Candelaria as patroness. The pilgrimages are common, such as the one celebrated in Salas Altas, where the distribution of cake and wine is one of the stellar acts.

La Botarga, in Jarque del Val.

Jarque de la Val celebrates the weekend very close to San Blas and San Antón, a new edition of the Botarga, an ancient tradition that in times past was carried out with a cavalry that went through the houses of the town collecting and storing alms for the saint, accompanied by the pipers. The kids chased La Botarga, a figure that got into the houses and took the slices of the puchero that women prepared to eat. Currrently, a mass is held and after it the people go through town with the charanga. The next day, the Botarga takes another walk until the moment of “trance” comes, which consists of an auction of the gifts,which people give to pay for the party. These treats are gifts, drinks and food, homemade sausage from the butchery, for which good bids are obtained, and sponge cakes and pies women in town cook. While the trance is developing, people are served chorizo, sausage and wine in a jar that has been doing this service for more than a century.

In Santa Cruz de Grío, they take the image of San Blas on the shoulders of the neighbors in a procession loaded with pastries, wine and roscones. They are the donations of the neighbors that will be auctioned at the end of the “baile del Santo”. Cinco Olivas celebrates its main festivities with popular lunches in the pavilion, Anento makes cakes and commemorative pastries, and Uncastillo, Fonz, Fuentes de Jiloca, Calatayud or Muel opt for the roscón in different varieties. In the capital bilbilitana, in addition, candies and other previously blessed foods are taken. In Sediles, they eat beans with a mask and an ear, and Acered celebrates it with roasted beef. In Andorra people are blessed and they taste rosquillas and pastas, and in Castellote the member of the family that goes to mass takes as many biscuits as there are members in his house. On this day, the women of Ejulve to go to church to bless bread and salt. The relationship of the saint with the evils of the throat leads some people to cook their own pastas such as those of Cuevas de Cañart, where they make a special dough to which aguardiente is added.

In the upper Aragonese village of Fonz for San Blas, the men undergo a tough test: they try to climb onto anoilypost from which a rooster hangs, which in the endwill be taken as a trophy by first to get it.

Santa Águeda is the patron of the women who bring up and have a special cake that, although it is of recent creation, has established itself as a benchmark for this festival with a strong feminine character, and it is present in many parts of Aragón. It consists of a bun filled with cream and truffle covered in chocolate and topped with a cherry.

In Santa Águeda, Canfranc Estación makes its cakes from the saint; in Pertursa chocolate is prepared with cake and blessed buns, in Castejón de Monegros there is also popular chocolate, and in Jaca there are some so-called “teticas” pastas. Other usual sweets on February 5th are the muffins and shortbreads in Fuentes de Jiloca, and the farinetas – wheat flour with milk and sugar – in Remolinos. In Grañén the distribution of blessed rolls, and the run of the traditional threads-stuffed with cream-through the streets is also very typical. In Torres de Berrellén, the married ones in the previous year prepare a sponge cake that, once blessed, they distribute among the rest of neighbors.

Since 1997, Teruel celebrates what has already turned into one of its most important festivals: “Las Bodas de Isabel de Segura”. Thousands of “Turolenses” revive the medieval atmosphere of the city in the twelfth century and participate, perfectly dressed for the occasion, in different events taking place. The streets go back to the Middle Ages and host a market with countless of craft stalls, theaters, music, dance and entertainment, all in tune with this historical stage. The street performance of the tragic love story of “Los Amantes de Teruel,” Diego and Isabel, is the main theme of these festivities.

The “Lardero” Thursday or “Día del Palmo” is the prelude to Carnival and Lent, and during this day it is a tradition to consume “longaniza.” This sausage, made weeks before in the matacía, is usually eaten in a sandwich with a piece of bread of a span (Palmo) in length. Hence the name.

In Alagón, on the countryside, it is customary to eat star bread with chorizo omelet, sausage, and bacon pieces. The traditional desserts are oranges and bananas. On this day In Alcañiz, people opt for the bottle for the “choricer,” and in Teruel for the “torrijas de miel” (similar to a French Toast). In Castellote the carnival pellets are the focus of the day. Remolinos elaborates its famous ”tortillera-tortilla” with chorizo, sausage or bacon- and in Puertomingalvo, the famous carnival balls and natural curd dessert and albardaos figs are consumed.