Bread, lobsters, cherries and wild horses make up the menu with which the Galician calendar of festivals of tourist interest usually welcomes the month of July. They are all celebrations that combine tradition, rites and a fun atmosphere, bringing together a large and loyal public. Covid has altered the programmes of all of them, so here we invite you to take a short tour so that you can make the most of them.
Cea Bread Festival
San Cristovo de Cea
This year there will be no Festa do Pan de Cea, but that town of Ourense does not renounce to the smell and taste of its famous delicacy to be the protagonist, as it is tradition, of the first weekend of the month of July. Coinciding with what should be the thirtieth edition of the festival, the Council and the Consello Regulador do Pan de Cea have opted to recover this year the Ruta dos Fornos, to be held on July 3. Participants will be able to pass through a total of 10 stalls (6 ovens and 4 squares) and at the same time get to know the rich ethnographic heritage of Cea. There will be musical entertainment during the route and a final concert by Javier Ojeda, the leader of the group Danza Invisible. In addition, during the morning Cea will host the twelfth edition of the Celtiberian Pipe Band Contest Memorial Muíño. For all the activities an anticovid protocol will be applied and in the case of the Ruta dos Fornos and the concert it is necessary to register in advance.
More information at https://www.rutadosfornos.es/web/
Cereixas Fair in Paiosaco
A Laracha
The first Sunday in July is the tastiest in the festive calendar of the town of Paiosaco, in the municipality of A Laracha in A Coruña. It is the usual place for a fortnightly fair where it is possible to find all kinds of farm produce and household items, but at this time of year it is cherries that become the star product of the Sunday market, attracting buyers from many other municipalities. This year the Council has limited the usual activities that enliven the morning fair, but in the evening there will be a concert by Xabier Díaz and the Adufeiras de Salitre. To attend the recital it will be necessary to register in advance through the form on the council’s website.
More information at https://www.alaracha.gal/
Lobster Festival
A Guarda
A Guarda’s Lobster and Seafood Festival should be thirty-one years old this summer. It is a celebration that since its inception has not failed to gather a multitude of diners in the marquee installed in the port area. As last year, the local authorities have decided this time to suspend the celebration, but the local restaurants will continue to offer their tasty proposals to those who visit the town. In addition, the Council has resumed the guided tours of the Santa Trega mountain, so gastronomy is not the only incentive to visit the southernmost town on the Galician coast.
More information at https://www.facebook.com/Turismo-A-Guarda-126223240790625/
Rapa das Bestas de Sabucedo
A Estrada
The first weekend in July is also the date on which one of the most important and unique ethnographic celebrations in Galicia takes place: the Rapa das Bestas of Sabucedo, declared of Galician tourist interest almost half a century ago and elevated in 2007 to a celebration of international interest. It is a centuries-old tradition in which all the local residents take part and which brings together hundreds of people from all over Galicia. Many of the latter actively participate by helping to bring down the horses and colts from the mountains located in the parish of the municipality of A Estrada (Pontevedra) which gives its name to the festival, although in the central part of the celebration (the shave and the branding, with electronic chips, of the animals inside the curro) they must be content to be mere spectators of the work of the aloitadores. This year, because of the covid and in order to find dates when the evolution of the pandemic is more favourable, the organisers have decided to postpone the celebration to the end of August (27th, 28th and 29th), so we will have to wait a little longer to be able to contemplate this spectacular ritual.
More information at https://www.facebook.com/RapaDasBestas/
Rapa das Bestas de Candaoso
Viveiro
Also in Viveiro they keep alive the ancestral tradition of the rapa, gathering once a year the horses that are bred in freedom to cut their manes and mark them with the corresponding microchips. The curro located in Candaoso is the scene of this rite, which became a festival just over half a century ago, but which for the second consecutive year has been suspended due to the covid. We will have to wait until 2022 to see the encounter between men and horses again, although taking a walk around the Curro, trying to spot the horses in the nearby hills and enjoying the views of the estuary is a good alternative at any time of the year.
More information at https://www.facebook.com/rapadasbestas.viveiro.1
