Burgos's festivals mix Castilian tradition with religious celebrations. Here are the main ones.
San Pedro and San Pablo
The Fiestas de San Pedro y San Pablo, declared of tourist interest, are held around 29 June and last about ten days. The programme includes:
- the pregón and the proclamation of the festival queen;
- the gigantillos and gigantones, papier-mâché figures dancing through the streets to the dulzaina, and danzantes, dancers in traditional dress;
- the flower offering to the Virgen de Santa María la Mayor;
- free concerts, street shows, the fair, fireworks over the Arlanzón and the bullfighting season;
- the Día de las Peñas, when festival clubs (peñas) parade and hold communal lunches.
On the Friday after Corpus Christi comes the Curpillos, a pilgrimage to the Las Huelgas monastery, with a procession in the cloister and a big popular party in Parral park, with picnics and dancing.
Other festivals
- San Lesmes (30 January), the city's patron, with a fair and tastings.
- Holy Week, with solemn processions in the old town around the cathedral (see Holy Week).
- Romería de San Amaro, in June, to the hermitage of the saint linked to the Way of St James.
- Día del Burgalés Ausente, in July, when emigrants from Burgos return home.
- San Antón and winter festivals with neighbourhood bonfires.
Village festivals
The province of Burgos has many unusual festivals, such as the Colacho of Castrillo de Murcia at Corpus Christi, in which a figure dressed as a devil leaps over babies laid on mattresses to protect them from evil, and the medieval festivals of Lerma and Covarrubias. See also Spanish festivals and eating in Burgos.