Program

On the morning of the first Sunday in May, a pilgrimage in honor of Our Lord of Life leaves from Bélmez de la Moraleda to the Cortijada de Bélmez. During the course of it, the so-called “Relations” take place, a representation in seven scenes of struggles between Moors and Christians, where the latter rescue the painting of the Lord of Life from the Muslim troops and proclaim him the patron of the Bélmez farmhouse. Tradition tells that a shepherd named Eufrasio, while guarding his sheep, was revealed in a dream by an angel that in a dungeon of the castle of Bélmez there was a painting that represented a Christ tied to a column to be whipped. The shepherd wanted to retrieve the painting, but was met with the refusal of the Moorish king who ruled the castle. He asked Eufrasio for help from the Christian troops who were camped near the fortress, and after a hard fight between both sides, the painting was rescued, proclaiming it patron of both the village of Bélmez and Bélmez de la Moraleda. This representation dates from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, and has the peculiarity that the members of the Christian troops dress in the clothes of current soldiers and are armed with shotguns, while the Moorish troops wear an outfit more in line with the time in which the events must have occurred.