Vera has a great number of local festivities that have remained as popular traditions and that have a religious origin during the middle ages. If you also wish to get involved, there are plenty of activities in which you can participate, sport and recreational activities or a street market that opens on Saturdays and that is inheritor of an ancient cattle market that was held during the 19th century in the Fountain of the Four Pipes.
Amongst the characteristic popular festivities in Vera you’ll find:
After the Christian conquest in the late 15th century they established the celebration of the Holy Week in Vera.
This originally pagan celebration is held towards the end of February or beginning of March, and apart from the costumes, they also sing parodies that reflect, in a humorous way, the latest topics of what’s going on in the village.
Around the end of February or the beginning of March, depending on what day they fall on, the carnival parades with their disguises and their popular Street music take place. They represent parodies of the daily events that happen in town, and give us a sort of idea of local life. The popular masks, disguises and costumes bring the streets of Vera alive.
One of these celebrations, the call of Cleofas, is held in commemoration of the 25th of September 1569, year in which there was an uprising of the siege suffered in Vera by the Moorish troops. As from that moment this celebration is held during the last week of September and have been evolving over the centuries.
Another festivity with a marked Christian character is the celebration of the conquest of Vera, which is held on the 10th of June with different acts and festivities accompanied by the municipal music band and where they also organise a gastronomic contest for the pensioners. At the end of the event they carry a religious figure around the streets of the municipality.
This festivity could have its origin after the repopulation of the area after having expelled the Moors, and that currently suspends the wholw working day as from midday, where entire families and friends make their way to an open area or a beach where they eat and break a doll that simulates an old lady that’s full of sweets. This celebration is not only held in Vera, but in many other villages of the Almeria province.
This festivity begins in the morning, moment of the day in which they register the animals that are going to enter the contest in the Plaza Mayor. They give prizes to the most beautiful and fun pets. At the end of the celebration they carry a religious figure around the streets of Vera.
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