Feast of san Antón Breadcrumb migas are prepared and black pudding, chorizo sausage and tocino fat are roasted over the bonfires that are set up in the streets and squares of Quesada, while flowers accompany the chants and dances of those present along with cuerva (a type of sangria) or local wine. One particular feature is that these bonfires are kept going by local people until the 20th, feast day of the local patron saint. |
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Festivities in honour of san Sebastián, patron saint of the town From the 19th to the 21st of January, Quesada celebrates festivities in honour of san Sebastián, local patron saint and captain of soldiers, who is worshipped at his hermitage located two kilometres away from the village. On the 19th, his holy image is taken down to Quesada so that on the 20th, a local holiday and feast day of the saint, three standard bearers and a drummer, decked out in old fashioned garb, carry out five flag displays during the procession of the holy image of the saint in the evening. The day draws to a close around the bonfire set up in front of the door of the local council building, around which people eat produce from the annual animal slaughter washed down with wine. The festivities wind up on the 21st, which differs from the previous day in that there are only three flag dances. |
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| Outing of Nuestra Señora de Tíscar The Virgen de Tíscar, patron saint of Quesada, is worshipped in the hermitage which bears her name, located in an area of exceptional beauty in the very heart of the Sierra de Cazorla Mountains. On the first Saturday in May, there is a popular pilgrimage to her sanctuary to transfer her to the parish church in Quesada, where she remains until the last day of festivities in August. After spending a day in the countryside, the highpoint of the return leg of the journey happens at El Humilladero, where the faithful who did not go to the hermitage join up wih entourage and return to the village, with the beautifully decorated and milraculous Holy Virgin. |
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| Fair and festivities in Quesada in honour of its patron saint the Virgen de Tíscar August August festivities take place during the second fortnight in the month and are quite remarkable for the sporting and cultural activities and the lively popular dancing organised by the Council. Moreover, this is a farewell for the patron saint whose holy image is returned to the sanctuary which bears her name and stays there until the first Saturday in the month of May of the following year. |
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| Romería pilgrimage to Tíscar Tradition has it that the wooden carving this Marian dedication was brought here by san Isicio, then Bishop of Cazorla and disciple of St James the apostle, and that it was hidden in the Cueva del Agua cave during Roman and Visigothic persecutions of Christians. Since 1560, her fame as a miracle worker and great fervour popular mean that many people visit her hermitage on the first Sunday in the month September. |
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Cargos or Dios Chico Festival Quesada celebrates the Cargos or Dios Chico Festival, a tradition that goes back to the 19th century and commemorates the retreat of Napoleon's troops during the Peninsular War. The festivities begin on the 25th of December in the little hamlet of Belerda. The five "Cargos", first and second capitain, the standard-bearer, the "guinche" and the "cargo chico", accompanied by a drummer boy and an enthusiastic crowd, set out for the Santuary at Tíscar on the 26th, where there is a procesion for the holy image of the Virgin. On the back, stopping off at estates on the way, tasty produces from the annual animal slaughter and fine fine wine greet the party. This peculiar Sierra de Segura festival comes to a close on the 27th, with the renovation of the "Cargos" for the coming year. |