La tradición popular en inglés ("Los caballos del vino") con motivo del proyecto Erasmus + (2017-19).

1. THE FAMOUS TRADITION:
"THE WINE HORSES"
According to popular tradition, the Templar fortress of Caravaca was besieged by
the Granada Muslims, around 1250, and the inhabitants needed the same water to supply
themselves, since the reservoirs were exhausted. A group of valiant Templar knights
crossed the Muslim site, with the consequent risk that this entailed. They filled containers
made of leather with wine on the back of their horses and when they could not get water in
the surroundings, they returned again, in a fast and spectacular race, to evade the enemy
siege to bring the liquid element to the defender of the castle, where the heirloom of the
Holy Cross of Caravaca had been kept since 1231. When they arrived, they were greeted
with enormous joy. The women offered and dressed the young men and their horses with
rich embroidered mantles or dresses for the horses as well as bouquets of flowers,
considering them, in this way, heroes and saviors of the complicated situation.
The celebration takes place on the morning every year on May 2nd, the eve of the
Feast of the Cross, the date which Caravaca became the capital of joy, beauty and festive
participation.
The celebration begins at dawn with the washing and harnessing of the horses.
Around 70 horses participate dressed with lavish embroidered mantles made by hand, in
gold and silk, which are represented with scenes from the history of the Holy Cross as well
as characters and typical scenes of the festivities and their rituals.
The first organized parade begins at 8 o'clock in the morning and starts from the
Plaza Nueva and Plaza del Arco (the Town Hall square), where the different horse groups
and the Muslim and Christian groups have previously concentrated, which precede the
multiple horses that take part in it.
These first parades end at the Templete-Bañadero, which is an old monument with
beautiful fountains. Here we attend the commemorative Mass of the Apparition of the
Cross. It is a break of calm and rest amid the intensity of the morning, because immediately
the horses begin the journey to the castle where the most exciting and climactic moments
of the celebration will take place.
The last section of the ascent to the enclosure of the walled fortress to the castle
which extends about 80 meters, is the place where the individual race of the horses takes
place. Each horse is guided by four riders (two on each side) that make their way through
the crowd steering their horse in the right direction until they reach the top of the hill. The
fastest time up the hill will grant the first prize winner of the race. It is difficult to make a
good timed race up the hill while passing hundreds of people who are crowding the space.
The race and the slope create an atmosphere of epic characteristics: man, horse,
competition, effort, fight against time, climb at a gallop, crowd, radiant sun at midday, blue
sky, nearby mountains that, like immense backdrops, close the scenario of the horse race
ritual.
At the beginning of the race of the first horse, the ritual of the Blessing of Wine and
Flowers, which the origin of the celebration, takes place inside the castle in the Sanctuary,
located within the fort's enclosure.
After the race, the horses go on to the inner terrace which is a large enclosure of
the fortress where the second competition takes place for the prize of the best-dressed
horse based on their elaborate embroidered hand-made mantles. A jury calls each of the
participants, who come fast, exhibiting their qualities and demonstration their proud
mantles. These best-dressed prizes are awarded. People crowd around the horses. It is the
peak passionate moment. When announcing the first prize, the explosion of applause and
joy contrasts with the disappointment and protest of others. The music sounds triumphant
and the winning horse runs victorious among the crowd.