Cebreros Carnival

More than 2,000 people stroll along the streets of this small town in its great Provincial Parade of Floats and Comparsas, filling its streets with costumes, color, joy and tradition.

The Cebreros Carnival (Avila) is thought to be more than two centuries old. Nobody knows when it was first celebrated but the commitment of the residents to this carnival is a well-known fact (they held the event even when it was illegal!).The festivities start on Friday, with the Children's Parade involving several schools in the village, and the Cebrero wine and sweets contest. The fun extends beyond Ash Wednesday: the following weekend, on Piñata Sunday, it's time for the great Provincial Parade of Floats and Comparsas. Created in 1998, it attracts more than 2,000 marchers and 20,000 attendees in a municipality of just over 3,000 inhabitants.The prelude for the Provincial Parade takes place a week earlier, on Carnival Sunday, when the also popular Local Parade is celebrated. The winners of the different categories will parade again in the Provincial, where the towns of Avila who wish to do so can also send their festive delegations. More than thirty towns have participated in other editions of the great Cebreros gathering, including Avila capital city.In the afternoons of several days, including both Sundays, the Corro or Rondón dance is also celebrated, a peculiar and collective way of dancing the Cebrereña jota for two hours. The festivities end on Piñata Sunday, but not without loads of entertainment first: the carnival running of the bullocks (Carnival Monday), the Burial of the Sardine...