Cruces de Mayo in Cordoba, Spain

cruces de mayo

Crosses and flowers… an enthralling combination.

Las Cruces de Mayo is a Cordoban festival in which crosses are adorned with flowers and prominently displayed in the city squares. Celebrated in the first few days of May, this spring festival is also accompanied by music, drinking and dancing.

This festival is a tribute of life and its victory over death (as a response to the Easter Season). The streets are filled with people raring to celebrate this life.

Around a few of the crosses, there sometimes are locals dressed in colorful flamenco costumes dancing to sevillanas. The decorated crosses form part of a contest and the entries are quite an enchanting sight. Your visit to the crosses will seem like a treasure hunt, complete with a map outlining the entries or crosses located in the various plazas throughout the city.

The background of this festivity is highly religious. This Catholic custom hails back to the ancient times when Cordobans decorated their Christian crosses to express their beliefs and to pay them tribute.