Held since time immemorial on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, throughout the night of the 7th to the 8th. A large drum is used to lead the prayer, giving the festival its name.

Through its streets, a testament to the town's Muslim past, the image of the Virgen de la Aurora is carried in procession at midnight, 4 am and 6 am. This tradition, rooted in the old Brotherhood of the Souls, involves a “wake-up call” performed by the people of Cambil with a large drum, accompanied by dawn songs: “A la Aurora venimos buscando, que dicen que anda por este lugar; recogiendo flores y jazmines para los devotos que van a rezar” ("We come seeking the Dawn, said to be wandering this place, gathering flowers and jasmine for the faithful who go to pray"). The steady, resonant, energetic “tan tán tan tararán tan” of the drum touches the hearts of the people of Cambil. During the procession, residents hand out sweets, liqueurs and more among the penitents.

Years ago, “la tambora” also used to go out on Christmas Eve, with people walking the streets singing a song about the souls in purgatory, collecting alms on their behalf as they went. When they passed in front of a house in recent mourning, they would not stop, since the song, however well-intentioned, did not sit well with the strict mourning customs of the past.

Not so long ago, the Dawn Mass was still held very early in the morning. Some years, the cold was bitter, with frost falling on the faithful as they made their way to the Hermitage of the Señor del Mármol to fetch the image of the Aurora and bring it to the church to celebrate Mass on this feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Cambil holds its festivities in honour of the Virgen del Rosario, the town's Patron Saint, on the days before and after 15 August.
The town's livestock fair used to be held on 15 August.
However, until the early 1970s, the festivities took place in October, coinciding with the feast of the Virgen del Rosario; but due to better weather conditions and the greater number of returning emigrants, it was decided to move them to August. The date chosen to celebrate the Patron Saint's main festival was 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, both because it was the day of the livestock fair, and because in 1950 our Patron Saint took part in the dogma of the Assumption, proclaimed in the city of Jaén on 1 November of that year.
In 1599, just 28 years after the Virgin's miracle at the Battle of Lepanto, Cambil already had a brotherhood in honour of the Virgin under her title of the Rosary, and she was named patron saint of the town together with San Marcos, with San Mateo as co-patron, since the town was reconquered on this Evangelist's feast day.
This Brotherhood of the Rosary once organised, every Sunday in October, the dawn rosaries, held before the "first Mass". To call people to these dawn rosaries, held through the streets, this brotherhood, together with that of the Souls, would sing "las despiertas de la aurora" — what today is known as "La Tambora" — a tradition now confined to the feast of the Conception of the Virgin.

According to popular belief, in the 17th century, a muleteer was carrying a canvas depicting Christ to the village of El Mármol, stopping overnight in Cambil. The next morning, after the people of Cambil had kept vigil over the Christ all night, the load became so heavy that it was impossible to move; from this event, the locals concluded that Christ wished to remain in this beautiful town in the Sierra Mágina. The devotion the people of Cambil hold for their patron saint is expressed every last weekend of February with festivities in his honour, beginning on Saturday with the transfer of the canvas from the parish church to his hermitage, where, just as three centuries ago, the image of Christ is kept in vigil throughout the night. The following day, the image's return to the parish church, where a solemn Mass is held, marks the end of the religious events, though not of the festive atmosphere, which continues right up until the last hours of Sunday.
 

With the arrival of Easter in Cambil, a period of religious events and traditional customs begins, filling our town with the scent of incense.

It is curious to see the escort given to Christ by the Roman soldiers, here called the “armaos”, who spend a whole day not leaving the church, eating the traditional “bacalao encebollao” in the sacristy, and where it was once customary for the priest and choirmaster to sing the “Sermón de Madrugada” on Good Friday, made up of the “Confortación del Ángel”, “la Sentencia de Pilatos” and the text of “El Cronista”.

The following events and processions can be enjoyed:

It begins with the imposition of ashes on «Ash Wednesday«, when young and old alike attend church, marking the start of the events preparing us to experience the Passion and Death of Jesus of Nazareth.

Friday of Sorrows: Although nowadays the venerated image of the Virgen de Dolores is not carried in procession, in previous decades the carving of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores was indeed carried, a carving dating from the early 20th century, now located in the right-hand chapel of the church, alongside San Juan and Jesus on the Cross.
Palm Sunday: With the blessing of olive branches and palm fronds, a procession makes its way through the streets of Cambil, just as Jesus once did upon his entry into Jerusalem. The Eucharist is then celebrated at the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, marking the start of Holy Week in Cambil.

On Monday, religious activities are held at the parish church.

Holy Tuesday: Close to dawn, the image of Christ on the Cross is accompanied along a Way of the Cross that passes through the town's neighbourhoods. With the penitential stations, Christ pauses to recall the journey from his arrest to his death on the Cross. Fires lit by residents illuminate the way of this processional retinue. In a silence broken only by the words of those reading the penitential stations and by prayers, these are the only sounds giving way to the most representative events of Holy Week in Cambil.

Holy Wednesday: Procession of the Cristo del Perdón, the procession of Christ bound to the column, follows the official route.

Holy Thursday: At six in the evening, the Eucharist begins, marking the start of Christ's final hour. After the liturgical events, the procession of El Cautivo, San Juan and the Virgen de los Dolores follows the official route — the same route followed by all subsequent processions, except that of Nuestro Padre Jesús, which passes through the Plaza de la Moraleda.

Early hours: the «Sentencia de la Muerte de Cristo», sung by the men of Cambil, in a moving act of faith, sends Jesus of Nazareth to his death on the cross. Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno then processes, followed by San Juan and the Virgen de los Dolores. Worth noting is «el encuentro» (the meeting) that takes place in the Plaza de la Constitución between the three images, a heartfelt moment bringing Cambil together with Jesus, his friend, and his mother.

Good Friday: At five in the morning, wooden ratchets announce the Holy Offices of Jesus. With the death of Christ, his offices begin, followed by the procession of the Santo Sepulcro, Jesus on the Cross (Cristo de la Misericordia), San Juan and the Virgen de los Dolores. The Virgin Mary sets out at eleven at night in what is known as the «Procesión de la Soledad», in which Cambil bears witness to the grief of a mother who has lost her son.

Holy Saturday: At eleven at night, the preparatory events begin, culminating in Jesus's victory over death. Glory Saturday marks Jesus's triumph over death, symbolised by the bonfire and the light of candles lit from a fire, whose ashes are kept so that the following year's «Ash Wednesday« can be celebrated once again.

Easter Sunday: After the Eucharist, a procession is held with the image of the Risen Christ, bringing to a close the religious events held in Cambil for Holy Week.

In the hamlet of Arbuniel, the «Encuentro« (Meeting) stands out, a procession dramatising the passing of San Juan, the Virgin and the Risen Christ.

The Ultra Mágina Top Trail is a highly demanding, technical race covering more than eighty kilometres, with a cumulative elevation gain of almost five thousand
metres. It crosses the Sierra Mágina Natural Park, taking in its most iconic peaks, including Pico Mágina: the highest point in the province of Jaén, at 2,167 metres altitude.

As in much of the province of Jaén, this festival is deeply rooted in Cabra, although it retains some distinctive features.

On the night before 17 January, the feast of San Antón, residents gather around the bonfires, and during the evening eat rosquillas and cured meats from the pig slaughter, drink wine from a wineskin or porrón, fire shotguns into the air, and young men jump over the bonfires, forming circles around the fire together with the young women.

In the days beforehand, countless "zagales" (young lads) can be seen around the streets carrying bundles of firewood, wood from old furniture, or large olive branches from pruning, stockpiling enough material to make their bonfire a worthy one, with flames reaching as high as possible — as they say around here, "burning San Antón's beard".

Although January days here are cold, the atmosphere it creates is very warm, with the haze produced by the smoke and the smell of burning wood taking over the whole town, encouraging the people of Cabra to celebrate and bid farewell to Christmas, since, as the saying goes, "until San Antón, it's still Christmas".

Feast day of Nuestra Señora de la Purificación; a procession used to be held, but once the image of the Purificación disappeared during the Civil War and with no brotherhood left to organise it, the custom died out. It was also a day on which bonfires were lit, as with San Antón or Santa Lucía. Long before that, the custom of the monumental cake distributed by the town hall had already been lost.

The most enduring tradition has been for families to attend church carrying wicker baskets decorated with rosemary and almond blossom, holding the traditional Candelaria bread rings; children, meanwhile, carry these rings threaded and richly decorated, usually oven-baked and made with flour, egg, sugar and toasted oil. At the end of the service, those attending raise their sweets so that the priest, walking along the rows of pews, can bless them.

The streets of this beautiful town in the Sierra Mágina are covered with floral carpets, and balconies are dressed with Manila shawls and embroidered bedspreads to welcome the Blessed Sacrament.

Manuel Urbano Pérez Ortega describes the Corpus procession as follows, in his book “Campanas y cohetes”, a calendar of popular festivals of Jaén: A procession that today is carried out in ways identical to those reproduced from medieval or more recent times, decorating the streets with sedge, lavender and other herbs, or, in the case of Cabra del Santo Cristo, carpeting the processional route with flowers, along which Manila shawls, bedspreads and other richly embroidered fabrics are also hung from balconies and windows — elements that likewise appear on the altars built by local hands along the route.

As we can see from the most recent photographs, everything is still done just as described, and just as it was in the early years of the last century, as shown in Dr. Cerdá's photograph — from one of the balconies of his house, petals are thrown down onto the Monstrance — although the route has changed; and one detail we can also make out in that photograph is that all the banners and flags of the town's brotherhoods used to process ahead of the Monstrance.

The festival of the patron saint, San Ginés de la Jara, is Benatae's main festival, held from 22 to 25 August. The patron saint is regarded as the protector who cured hernias. The bull runs, in which cows are run through the town's streets, are a traditional feature. The young bulls used to be brought from Orcera to the now-vanished Hermitage of San Ginés, located at the entrance to the town, preceded by the brotherhood's standard, carried ahead of them.

Held on 25 April, the town's local festival. On this day, the traditional hornazos are eaten, and people usually head out to the countryside to “scare away the devil”. The people of Navas spend the day at the spot known as “Fuentemarcos” (the Fountain of San Marcos).