During carnival there are processions with carts, fancy dress competitions, masquerades, street bands, and jokes (with undoubtedly Cadiz influence), emphasizing these types of celebrations, not only in the capital but also in Ronda and Torrox.
At Lent, in some towns such as Arriate and Cuevas del Becerro, they have a curious tradition called ‘breaking the old woman’, which consists of destroying a symbolic doll of an old woman during the day in the countryside. It’s a case of taking a day off as a break from the penitence period.
On San Marcos day the 25th of April, they practice a game in El Burgo and Cuevas de San Marcos, with obviously magical reminiscences
The Corpus is another festivity with great tradition in which the religious fervour is combined with the artistic samples of decorated balconies and fronts, the carpeting of the streets with real flowers, all to emphasize the course of the procession which will take place that day.
The tradition of fire joined to the festivity reappears with the night of San Juan in almost all the province.
During the summer there is the festivity of the Virgen del Carmen on the 16th of July, a marine festivity which is celebrated all along the coast with showy nautical processions in which the virgin is placed in a boat full of flowers and lights and sails along the coast near the shore of each town, amid songs, acclaims, rockets, and the sound of sirens from the boats which escort her.
Last but not least there is the bull festivity which is one of the town’s largest cultural manifestations, and which in the case of Málaga is endorsed by an age-old tradition from the Ronda school. Their spectacular bullfighting ring built in 1785 and the fair of Pedro Romero in September in which the Goya bullfight takes place. The bulls occupy an important place in the popular celebrations, above all in places like Málaga, Ronda, Antequera, and some localities of the Costa del Sol as a tourist offer.
Read also about Costa del Sol history |
