Editor (06/27/2025, Gaudium Press) Almudena Martínez-Bordiú relates the tradition in Aciprensa. https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/114721/un-pueblo-espanol-adorna-sus-calles-por-el-corpus-christi?utm_campaign=ACI%20Prensa%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9MGbVIzB_C3O-b7HBSapFwvcZo7Dre2yFsWbasxdWHfQ1cf6zNIEpFM3aiBKaS_OKAlnrbym-x9zB4O_OhLKzM3z6Q3w&_hsmi=368666835&utm_content=368666835&utm_source=hs_email dates back to the night of May 28, 1964, in the town of Elche de la Sierra, Albacete (Spain).
Under the moonlight, ten young youths sneaked out of their homes, covered with colored shavings. The streets that next day would be the path of the Corpus Christi procession.
What was the surprise of the population, when the next morning they could contemplate the colorful carpets that decorated the streets of this corner of Spain? These youths, without knowing it, had started one of the most deeply rooted traditions in Castilla la Mancha.
Andrea López, from the Sawdust Carpets Association in Elche de la Sierra, explained to Aciprensa the details of the tradition’s origin.
“It happened the carpets of flowers that were made in Barcelona, for the feast of ‘The Octave of the Lord’ enchanted Francisco Carcelén. However “in our town, there were not many flowers, and there were plenty of blacksmiths and shavings. Francisco and his friends painted them and without anyone knowing it, they covered the town, which woke up full of colors”, says López.
For the carpets, they used shavings from nearby sawmills. They were then dyed with the inks that Carcelén used in his clothing business. Over time they changed the shavings for finer sawdust.
Last year, shortly after the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Carcelén died, “so this year is a special tribute to him”.
For the festival last Sunday, June 22, the residents of Elche de la Sierra were divided into 30 “peñas alfombristas”, which would create sawdust mosaics with religious and decorative scenes. “About 600 people participate in the elaboration of these carpets, covering the streets throughout the night with designs that have been prepared for months,” says Andrea Lopez.
The process
The work in the streets is distributed according to the position of the previous year: “First they choose the three winners of the previous year”.
“My peña has our turn this year in the church square, it’s the first carpet, so the responsibility is enormous,” she adds. “First we delimit with chalk the perimeter and then we start with the design. We usually start at 6 p.m., but the most difficult hours are from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. We don’t stop at any time, because we don’t stop at all. We don’t stop at any time, because otherwise we don’t have time,” says López.
It is the tourists who vote for the best design. This allows the winning choice to be impartial.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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