Friday morning. A group of women knock on the door of every village’s house to ask for grain. They use it to go the mill to bake bread and cakes, which will be offered to the saint on the Sunday procession. The men observe while women of all ages perform the rituals, singing and playing. Accompanied by different percussions, these women are the principal actors of the community for several days.
The program offers a traditional repertoire that has its origin in the pagan rituals of the Iberian Peninsula before the church arrived. One such ritual is Las marzas: the beginning of the year during the roman time was March. Up to this day at the beginning of this month pilgrimages, festivities and processions are performed.
The Cantigas de St. Maria, a repertoire from the 13th century, frames those traditional pieces. The Cantigas were chosen because of their rhythmical, melodic and formal similarities with the traditional songs. Taken as a whole, the program offers a line of continuity where old and new melodies blend: modern and middle age, never separated, still united.