Lunes de Aguas: To the countryside with the hornazo

Few festive traditions are so rooted in the population of Salamanca as Lunes de Aguas. Its celebration takes place on the next Monday to Easter, after Holy Week.

Its origin dates back to the XVIth century, during the reign of Felipe II. It seems that certain ordinances obliged the prostitutes to leave the city during Lent and move to the other side of river Tormes.

On the Lunes de Aguas the young students, accompanied by “Padre Putas”, crossed the river to bring these women back to the city. This festive partying was completed with a countryside meal by the river.

Nowadays, the whole city celebrates this day with a picnic. Friends and families joined to eat the typical hornazo of Salamanca, a kind of pie filled with cold cuts and hard boiled eggs. The hornazo is enjoyed by groups of friends or families in the countryside or even at home.

This celebration is not exclusive of the city but it has been spread to other coins of the province. In other places, the celebration comes eight days earlier, on Easter Monday, with a a countryside meal.

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