Aspe fiestas and local holidays

Aspe’s fiestas have two high points: February, with the Jira del Último Jueves (the “Last Thursday” outing), and August, when the Virgen de las Nieves and the Moors and Christians come together. They are also the ones that set the town’s two local holidays of the year. Our kitchen is on Calle de la Virgen de las Nieves, so this page is written on home ground.

The Virgen de las Nieves: the image comes in even years

The patron saint fiestas of the Virgen de las Nieves are Aspe’s main fiesta (Fiesta Mayor), held in even years, and the pilgrimage and fiestas hold Regional Tourist Interest status, shared with Hondón de las Nieves. The reason is historical: the Virgin is the patron saint of two towns, Aspe and Hondón de las Nieves, and the Third Concordat of 1848, still in force, laid down that the feast would be solemnised “this year by Aspe and the next by Hondón, alternating thus”. That is why in 2027 the image and the pilgrimage will be in Hondón. Aspe is not left without fiestas: in odd years it keeps its August patron saint programme without the Virgin, and in 2025 the Town Council presented it with concerts, a public barraca and the Moors and Christians. The Traída returns in 2028.

In Aspe’s year, the fiesta starts on 3 August with the Traída pilgrimage, which accompanies the image from Hondón, and reaches its most solemn day on the 5th. These are the days of the processions of the “Serranica”, as the image is known here, and of the old custom of throwing printed verses at her from windows and balconies, like a shower of flowers. 5 August was also one of the two local holidays in 2026.

Be careful not to confuse two different things. One is the image’s stay in the town: the Town Council asked the diocese for it to remain in Aspe from 3 to 23 August in 2026, and the council’s fiestas page speaks of some twenty days in the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Socorro before the return pilgrimage to Hondón. The other is the fiesta days proper, which are those of the processions and the 5th.

The Jira del Último Jueves

The Jira, a fiesta of Provincial Tourist Interest, comes just before Lent, and its date changes every year. In 2026 it was Thursday 12 February and the DOGV (the regional official gazette) recorded it as a local holiday, under the name “Día de la Jira”. No date has been published for 2027: if it keeps to the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, it would fall on 4 February, still to be confirmed. Whether the full council picks it again as a local holiday will be known when the DOGV publishes the local holidays.

Moors and Christians: eight comparsas

Every August, too, comes the Moors and Christians festival, also of Provincial Tourist Interest. In 2026 the main events ran from 7 to 10 August: the Entrada de Bandas (the parade of bands), the Gran Entrada Mora (the Moorish entrance), the Guerrilla and Embajada (a mock battle and the “embassy”, a staged parley between the two sides) and the Gran Entrada Cristiana (the Christian entrance). According to the printed programme, the fiesta is now approaching its 50th anniversary. They are organised by the Unión de Moros y Cristianos Virgen de las Nieves together with the Town Council.

The festeros (the people who take part) are divided into eight comparsas (troupes): four Christian (Duque de Maqueda, Estudiantes, Contrabandistas de la Sierra Negra and Lanceros de Uchel) and four Moorish (Alcaná, Sulaymán, Fauquíes and Aljau). If you want to understand what a cuartelillo (a troupe’s clubhouse) is, or how a Moorish and Christian entrance is lived, each concept has its own entry in the glossary.

How the festeros eat

A comparsa runs all year round, not just in August. The Unión itself reported that its April 2023 Comida de Convivencia (get-together lunch) was planned for 650 festeros in the municipal marquee, with arroz con conejo (rice with rabbit) as the main dish, “typical of our area”. If your comparsa is preparing something like that, or the dinner for its officers, we are on home ground: kitchen and bar in a marquee, for 40 or for 500 guests. See our catering for Moors and Christians, our service for local fiestas and, for a big paella, the giant paella. August gets booked up months in advance, so it is best to get a quote as soon as you have dates. There is also our guide to the comparsa or filà meal and everything about catering in Aspe and the Vinalopó.

Local holidays and 2027

In 2026, Aspe had 12 February and 5 August off. The 2027 local holidays are not official until the DOGV resolution comes out, expected between mid-November and mid-December. Meanwhile, see the Valencian Community calendar or the fiestas of the neighbours: Novelda and Monforte del Cid. The whole fiesta year of the area is in the calendar.