Centuries-old tradition sees man pursued and painted in Spain
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
For over 530 years, the towns of Baza and Guadix in Granada, Spain, have participated in a yearly tradition where a man representing Guadix attempts to retrieve a statue of the Virgen de la Piedad from Baza’s church.
The event began in 1490 when a worker discovered the statue during church construction and sparked a dispute between the two cities.
A court decided the statue would remain in Baza, but Guadix gained the right to send a representative, known as the Cascamorras, to reclaim it annually. The Cascamorras, dressed in a colorful suit, runs a three-kilometer course through Baza while residents intentionally cover him in black paint. Though the Cascamorras is guaranteed to fail, no representative has ever completed the run without being painted, the event is not hostile. Residents engage in playful tackling and celebration while covering the runner.
The tradition was interrupted only by the Spanish Civil War and the COVID-19 pandemic. This festival, declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest in 2006 and International Interest in 2013, is unique in Andalusia for being shared between two municipalities. Anthropologist Demetrio E. Brisset Martín connected the Cascamorras to similar traditions across Spain and even traced linguistic roots to a Basque-French custom.
Following the run in Baza, the Cascamorras returns to Guadix where residents repeat the painting ritual to mark the start of their local festivities.
