El Guirria and Aguinaldo Festivities

The Festival of El Guirria and the Aguinaldo takes place on 1st January in San Xuan/San Juan de Beleño, the capital of the council of Ponga. This celebration brings ancestral tradition and romanticism to New Year's Day. The Guirria, a mythological masked man - half trasgu, half carnival character - goes about his business with the women all day long: he hugs, cuddles and kisses them. It's like a big theatrical play throughout the village, taking place both in the open air and under cover.

Escorted by men on horseback, the Guirria is an almost invulnerable character for the coming year. The role is usually played by a young man from the council - whose identity is kept anonymous - who kisses the girls he meets along the way and throws ashes and beats up anyone who tries to stop him.

Meanwhile, the aguinalderos go begging through the houses on the back of their shiny horses, a sort of court of the almost ghostly incursion of the Guirria through the streets and houses of San Xuan/San Juan de Beleño. By the way, in the houses, the neighbours generously give food and drink to such distinguished visitors. And so, amidst the happy songs of the aguinalderos, the romantic disinhibition of the Guirria and the complicity of the neighbours, a new year begins joyfully.