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ACCEDER

Fiesta de San Antón

January 16

Program

The 16th of January is the beginning of the Fiesta de San Antón, major festivals in honor of the patron of Arquillos. They are very important festivals for all arquilleros, given their devotion to the Saint. This day the proclamation of the festivities takes place.

After him, the last day of the Novena is celebrated and at the end of this in the Plaza de la Fuente the traditional lights of San Antón are performed. This festival of San Antón has the unique character of "El Pelotero", one of the jewels of the folklore of the province of Jaén, who, dressed in burlesque dress, lashes out at young and old with a whip that has been knotted in the end of its rope an espadrille.

Such a curious character is played by someone who has a promise to fulfill, and his suit is repaired and guarded during the year by the family of María Momblanc, a descendant of the colonist Vicente Momblanc, who from the Alicante town of Catamarruch settled in Arquillos with his family in the eighteenth century. "El Pelotero" represents the devil in a burlesque way and his presence at the festival recalls the temptations to which San Antón was subjected in the desert.

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