Culture and folklore
The
popular culture of the towns of Bajo Martín is greatly linked to the
agricultural cycle.
Among the winter celebrations special attention should be paid to the bonfires
for saints: Saint Antón, Fabián, Sebastian, Valero, Blas, among
others. They were saints that healed the illnesses and afflictions of those
who felt sufficient devotion. The popular festivities and processions for
the saint coexist with days of collective celebrations around the fire, whose
embers fulfilled a holy and shielding function.
In the spring, Easter is obviously the main celebration in the Bajo Martín. Five town in this county: Albalate del Arzobispo, Híjar, La Puebla de Híjar, Samper de Calanda and Urrea de Gaén, are part of the Route of the Drum and Bass Drum in Bajo Aragón.
Easter is followed by the processions and rogations of April and May. Their purpose is to pray for protection for the harvest during a time of unstable weather.
Between August and September the holidays devoted to the local patron saint make people travel from one town to the other searching for warm friendship, as well as to enjoy the regional traditions like the running of the bulls, quite renowned in Albalate, the bullfights or the unusual processions of “Pan bendito” and “Farolicos” in Híjar, among many other interesting cultural expressions.
The local folklore is rich and surprisingly varied. Besides the music of
the dulzaineros (clarinet players) and the soldierly dances of Albalate we
can find an extraordinary tradition of jota, the Aragonese folk song.
Folklore and tradition are also the protagonists in the different museums
and exhibition centres in the county. Their visit is an excellent way to get
to know the culture of Bajo Martín.
