El Carmen de Torazo

On the last Sunday in August, Torazu dresses up in its best clothes to celebrate Carmen. This village in the council of Cabranes, well known for having been an Exemplary Village of Asturias in 2008, and for combining in perfect harmony traditional and Indian architecture - due to the American emigration of some of its neighbours -, is really a welcoming and colourful place, where the festivity of Carmen is celebrated in a big way and at the wrong time, but it has been like this for centuries.

Although the Virgen del Carmen is on the 16th of July, in Torazu it is celebrated a month and a half later, and tradition has it that this change of date was perhaps due to the fact that the spelt harvest had to be harvested, in order to make the bread that is traditionally offered to the Virgin as a sign of gratitude.

On Sunday, the celebrations begin very early in the morning with a parade, and the most awaited and spectacular moment - which is also a centuries-old tradition - is the parade of bouquets, led by the residents of the different neighbourhoods dressed in regional costume. This parade is one of the largest and most colourful in the whole of Asturias, and is undoubtedly the distinctive feature of Carmen de Torazo, whose festival is rounded off with a full-scale verbena.