Transhumance Festival: when will the sheep pass through Madrid's Gran Vía?

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This Sunday, October 22, Madrid will receive some neighbors that we are not used to seeing walking through the nerve center of the city. Hundreds of sheep will walk the streets of the Madrid capital on the occasion of the XXVIII Festival of Transhumance, a festival that has been celebrated since 1994. This event vindicates the role of transhumance and extensive livestock farming as a tool for the conservation of biodiversity and the fight against climate change..

After a break due to the pandemic, the capital will resume its annual confluence between the rural and the urban which, this year, will dedicate a special tribute to all the people and institutions that have contributed to preserving the Spanish Network of Cañadas, Cordeles and Veredas with 125,000 kilometers in length and 420,000 hectares of surface.

On Sunday, October 23, we celebrated the 29th #FiestaDeLaTrashumancia in Madrid.
This year with a new route.

Find out everything on our website! https://t.co/2JeqIYyzwe

— TrashumanciayN (@TrashumanciayN) October 20, 2022

On this occasion the herd is led by Jesús Garzón, president of Transhumance and Nature and of the Council of La Mesta, by Marity González, first Mayorala of the Council of La Mesta, by three shepherds and a rancher, defended by 6 mastiff dogs, 4 careas Basques and 1 carea lions, which help the shepherds in their management.

Planned route

The tour will start at 9:00 a.m. in Casa de Campo heading towards Puerta del Rey. Through the King's Bridge the flock will cross the gardens to the Hermitage of the Virgen del Puerto, to ascend from there along the Paseo Ciudad de Plasencia and the Cuesta de la Vega to Bailén Street.. At 11:00 in the morning they are scheduled to enter Calle Mayor, accompanied by groups representing popular culture from the different Spanish nomadic regions..

Those who are walking through the center of the capital will be able to enjoy this rural spectacle and after twelve noon the sheep will cross Puerta del Sol and continue along Alcalá Street.. At 1:00 p.m. they will arrive at Plaza Colón and at 1:30 p.m. the ceremony will take place to present 50 maravedis (ancient Spanish currency) to the mayor for the passage of the cattle, in accordance with what was stipulated in the Concordia of 1418. At 2:00 p.m. the return along the same itinerary and farewell at the Casa de Campo.

Transhumance is a type of grazing that involves moving flocks of sheep at certain times of the year, normally in autumn and spring, to other areas of the peninsula, where the climate is more favorable for the animals and the cultivation of food. The most common routes are those established between Castilla y León and Extremadura and one may wonder why they travel through the capital itself and that is because this tradition and festival has a vindicating nature.