A whole week of Cervantes?!?!

Introduction:

Cervantes was baptized on October 9th, 1547 in his birth city of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. To commemorate, or celebrate his birth, the town puts on a week-long festival every October, which includes food, lectures, theater performances, concerts and even a medeival market!

What tradition did I learn about?:

This year, the Semana Cervantina (Cervantes Week) was one of the first things I got to do after starting work in Alcalá. The Friday we were off work, so I spent October 8th walking around the medeival market. It was sort of like a Renaissance Fair. Performers and vendors were dressed up in medeival costumes and there were vendors selling things like jewelry and soap. Of course there were TONS of food!

Why does the community have this tradition?:

Miguel de Cervantes is one of the most famous writers in the world, considered by many people (including me) to have written the first modern novel. His book is called El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote de la Mancha), and it's very long and complicated to read. I have not even read all of it yet, although I learned a lot about it during my Spanish classes at school.

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