Day of the Taking of Granada

On 2 January 1492 the Nasrid city of Granada passed into the hands of Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs. The date has been commemorated every year since then and is the oldest civic celebration the city still keeps.

The festival has its origin in the will of Ferdinand the Catholic of January 1516, in which he ordered that it be celebrated every year. The following year Queen Germaine of Foix, as executor, sent the king's sword and the royal banner to the city and gave instructions for them to be kept in the Royal Chapel and brought out on the day of the festival. In 1517 the Cathedral chapter recorded the mandate to hold a general procession every 2 January.

The ceremony followed today descends from those provisions: the City Council collects the royal insignia in the Royal Chapel, where the Catholic Monarchs are buried, attends mass in the Cathedral, and a councillor waves the Royal Standard before the tombs and then from the balcony of the City Hall in the Plaza del Carmen.

The main events take place in the city centre: the Plaza del Carmen, in front of the City Hall; the Royal Chapel, where the insignia are kept and the Standard is waved before the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs; and the Cathedral, where mass is held.

On that day the Alcazaba of the Alhambra usually opens so that the public can climb the Torre de la Vela and ring its bell.

The municipal procession leaves the City Hall for the Royal Chapel with its mace-bearers and ceremonial dress. In recent years a military detachment has formed up in the Plaza del Carmen. The most awaited moment is the waving of the banner from the City Hall balcony, when the councillor carrying it shakes it and the crowd answers with the cry of "Granada!".

At the Alhambra the custom of ringing the bell of the Torre de la Vela is kept alive. A popular saying claims that the young woman who rings it that day will soon be married. The altar of the Puerta de la Justicia is also opened to the public.