Cascamorras
The most widely version about the origin of this
celebration is related to the arrival of Almohads
in 1151, when many temples were
demolished, including a Mozarab hermitage built in the Curra suburb in Baza. Three centuries later, one of the knights
who accompanied Fernando El Católico, Mr.
Luis de Acuña Herrera decided to build La
Merced Church in that place. The construction was started in 1490 when the
accitano Juan Pedernal, by breaking a piece of gypsum, heard a sweet and
pitiful shout from the hole, which seemed to come from the earth core and said:
“HAVE
MERCY ON ME!” He found a statue of a Virgin, who was called Nuestra
Señora de la Piedad since them, alluding to that expression.
The
Guadix worker caused serious inconveniences for the other workers after competing
for the possession of the statue, which implicated the authorities of the two
cities. The law of the time was obliged
to intervene and decided to give the possession and property of the statue to
Baza people and the right to celebrate annually the religious events on 8th
September, when the feast of the Virgen de la Piedad takes place, to the Guadix
City Council. It is also told there was an agreement through which Guadix
could recover the statue whether a commissioner of Guadix reached to come into
Baza and arrived at the church without getting dirty. Therefore, Guadix people
went every year in romeria to celebrate the religious event,
which was rightfully theirs. A number of people usually went to
Baza accompanied by a jester, who was generally a small and ugly person whose
mission was to distract his lords with jokes or silly things. It is believed
that this jester was the precursor to current “Cascamorras” and it is
reasonable to believe that servant, in charge of the rescue, was angry because
of the jokes and laughs of the children who went there to get him dirty. That
is probably the reason because he tried to defend himself with bags tied to a
stick.
Nowadays,
an accitano volunteers to embody the
Cascamorras character, as a promise, and to try to arrive at La Merced church
in Baza without getting dirty, in order to get the statue of the Virgen de la
Piedad for Guadix people.
He
wears a colourful dress, as if were a jester, and he carries a flag with the
image of the Virgin and a “cachiporra” as the sole defence tool. He goes to
Baza on 5th September at
midnight, with the difficult mission to get and bring the Virgen de la Piedad
to Guadix for her celebrations on 8th
September.
His
arrival to Baza takes place on 6th
September in the afternoon and basketanos (people from Baza) welcome
him at 18 p.m. to accompanied him till the church. During the tour, basketanos
try to get him dirty to avoid the Virgin is brought to Guadix. If unsuccessful,
celebrations will take place in Baza on 8th ans 9th September. Cascamorras should come back to his native Guadix,
where he is received by annoyed Guadix people. They stain him again because he
couldn’t carry out the ordered mission: to bring the Virgen de la Piedad to
Guadix.
This
celebration is open to all who want to accompany Cascamorras. In so doing, the
following recommendations should be
taken into account: to inform themselves in advance about the tour; to wear old
clothes for getting rid it off once the celebration is finished; to moisturise
the clear areas of the skin with olive oil, comfortable shoes for running and
walking for 2 hours approximately; a ribbon and/or a cap to cover the hair and
avoid something come into their eyes, to plan a place where we could clean all
the dye from our body.
