The festival of the kings
This celebration, one of the most typical and original in A Mezquita, is a gathering of men and, for some years now, women, who spend five days eating, drinking, singing, dancing and performing the typical celebrations of these festive days. The king and queen, a single man and woman, and the viceroy and his mistress, who are married, are in charge of the feast. The feast is usually celebrated between the fifth and ninth of January. This festival is linked to the religious festival through the pastoradas, small Nadal events that were also held in the churchyards of the provinces of León, Zamora, Salamanca and Asturias. One of the emblems of this festival is the Ramo, a pagan symbol of fertility and abundance that heralds spring and is made up of roscas de reyes, sultanas, figs, sponge cakes, donuts, bread figures, fruit, etc.
