Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
Keywords: manganeses de la polvorosa | zamora |
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The municipality of Manganeses de la Polvorosa (751 inhabitants in 2010; 1,627 ha) is located in the Zamora Province.
Manganeses de la Polvorosa is the place of the controversial Salto de la Cabra festival, once described as follows in the NileGuide website:
The goat tossing festival takes place every year on the fourth Sunday in January. On that day, a group of teenagers from the village set out to round-up and hog-tie one of the local goats. The goat is then carried in a crowded procession to the church at the center of town, and then thrown from its belfry, falling upwards of 15 meters to be caught (hopefully) in a sheet of tarpaulin by the cheering crowd below. The festival is held in honor of the town's patron saint, St. Vincent, but is also said to have a real historical backing. Rumor has it that a local priest long ago owned a goat that could be milked to miraculously feed the poor and hungry. One day, the goat got in to the belfry, and when the bells chimed the surprised goat leaped out the window. Thankfully, there was somebody waiting with a blanket beneath the window to catch the precious animal.
Regardless of whether the goat is caught or not, animal rights activists are up in arms over the event, which has been successfully banned in past years. The town of Manganeses de la Polvorosa has been threatened with fines if they don't stop the practice, but civic leaders claim they cannot stop their reckless citizens from engaging in the practice if they wish.
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2011
The flag and arms of Manganeses de la Polvorosa are prescribed by a
Decree adopted on 26 November 1997 by the Zamora Provincial
Government, signed on 11 December 1997 by the President of the
Government, and published on 30 December 1997 in the official gazette
of Castilla y León, No. 250 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag, with proportions 2:3, made of a white panel with a red palm and two red triangles with a common vertex in the lower hoist and the other vertices in the midpoint of the flag's upper edge and at mid fly.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Argent a palm gules, 2. Gules a church tower argent ensigned with a goat's head of the same. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.
Ivan Sache, 26 April 2011
