On Corpus Christi Day, following the solemn religious service held each year in a parish church, the 17th-century Monstrance is carried in procession on a magnificent silver platform with gold finishes, donated by the Nocturnal Adoration in 1972, the work of the Ángulo brothers of Lucena. The platform is adorned with hundreds of red and white carnations, representing the children who have made their first communion. The procession is opened by these boys and girls, followed by the Tarsicios section led by their banner, and behind them the Nocturnal Adoration, also led by its own banner. Countless people surround the Blessed Sacrament, carrying candles and singing, accompanied too by the city's brotherhoods, which set up altars.

Along the traditional route, there are stops decorated with beautiful altars. The ground is covered with sedge and pennyroyal.

The altars designed by local residents deserve special mention. Every year, neighbours take great care in decorating their streets as best they can, resulting in a good-natured rivalry. Balconies are decked out with flags, shawls, tapestries... and the streets are filled with potted plants.

As early as the 16th century, there was a brotherhood dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament, and in earlier times its octave was held on the Sunday following Corpus Christi Day, in the afternoon, around the square. The Monstrance was carried by hand by the priest.

The altars used to be set up at the door of the town hall, on the corner of Calle San Fernando behind the fountain, and on the corner of Calle Juan de Mata, with the blessing given to the town from the altar at the church door.

The Jódar Fair was granted by Royal Decree of Isabella II in 1837. As Jódar had no set date for traders and livestock breeders to gather to sell and negotiate all kinds of goods, it was decided that the fair would be held on 2, 3 and 4 September. The fair was set up along the so-called Carrera del Pelotero (Calle General Fresneda). Food stalls and stands were placed in the open space between Calle Antonio Nieto and Lope de Vega, where large trees once stood. The swing rides, ferris wheels and carousels were set up in the old small square next to the church door facing the Carrera de San Marcos (Calle Juan Martín), where the priest's house now stands, built in 1927.

Later, the Fair moved to Plaza de la Constitución (Plaza de España) and Calle Los Morales (Calle San Fernando), where the Roma community would set up. A typical feature were the amateur bullfighting displays held in this square, surrounded by wooden stands.

History of the Fair

The origins of bullfighting in Jódar are documented as far back as the mid-17th century. Following the collapse of a wooden stand, these amateur bullfights were discontinued, and the current bullring (opened in 1926 on private initiative) was built by the entrepreneur Basilio Lahoz. Some of the greatest names in bullfighting have appeared in our bullring right up to the present day.

In the 1940s, the fair moved to Paseo de José Antonio (Paseo Primero de Mayo) and Calle Joaquín Galván, with the livestock fair set up in the surrounding streets. There were major shows at the cinemas and cafés, such as at Andrés's, where the so-called "animadoras" (hostesses) performed.

There were two open-air dances, one in the market square and another in the casino gardens, popularly known as "the poor people's dance" and "the rich people's dance". Feature films were shown — in the 1910s, using a large sheet in front of the church façade to screen silent films — and later at several cinemas: the Gran Cinema, the Plaza de Toros, and first at the Teatro Arroquia and later the Teatro Principal. Between the 1960s and 1970s, the fairground was set up in El Ejido, and by the mid-1970s in the Barriada de Fátima.

It later moved to Calle Luis Carvajal, Sanabria and the Camino de la Leña, extending to what is now Avenida de San Miguel de Fluviá. When the new fairground was built in "El Caballo", the fair gained in size and comfort, becoming one of the largest fairgrounds in the province.

Worth highlighting at the Jódar fair is the Flamenco Art Festival (founded in 1972), long-established and steeped in tradition, one of the oldest in the province; the Cita con la Música Folk (founded in 1972), organised by the folk music group "Andaraje", featuring groups of great national renown, and considered the oldest non-competitive folk gathering in southern Europe; among the fair's events, the opening address is also worth noting, given by a locally prominent person or someone linked to Jódar, delivered from the town hall balcony, along with the cultural and sporting activities of the "Pórtico de Feria", notably the Ciudad de Jódar Football Trophy, the motocross championship, and greyhound races... Concerts are also held at the Caseta Municipal of the Palomares Municipal Auditorium, as well as well-attended bullfights at the bullring, competitions and children's rides. Today, the fair is held from 31 August to 5 September.

The festival begins with the lighting of bonfires in the saint's honour. Some say the custom of the “marrano de San Antón”, a pig raised collectively by all the town's residents to be raffled off on the feast day, with the proceeds going to the Brotherhood or the parish, originated in Jamilena.

San Isidro is celebrated on 15 May and is the patron saint of those who work the land. The festivities begin on 13 May, when the saint is brought down from his hermitage to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Natividad. The following day, he is taken back to his hermitage on a cart, with a festive atmosphere continuing throughout the night until the 15th, the date on which he is carried in procession through the fields to bless them.

On 14 September, the people of Jamilena celebrate the feast of their patron saint, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, whose devotion dates back to the 17th century, a time linked to a remarkable event that gave rise to the devotion shown to the patron saint.

Held on 14 and 15 August, the festivities in honour of the town's Patron Saint take place in the area known as the Barrio Nuevo.

On 17 January, the feast day of San Antonio Abad — and, in some towns, on the eve of it — huge bonfires are lit in streets and squares, in honour of the saint who protects fire and animals. In each town, people sing and dance, and the bravest young people leap over the embers of the bonfires. In the city of Jaén, a competition is held for "melenchones" (bonfires), group singing and dancing, in which residents from each neighbourhood strive to build the biggest and most impressive bonfire in the capital. Also on that same day, in the evening, a major sporting event takes place in the city centre of Jaén: the “Noche de San Antón” International Urban Race, bringing together the world's finest middle-distance runners and drawing huge crowds who wait, torch in hand, for the runners to pass by.

 Iznatoraf holds its patron saint festivities in honour of the Santo Cristo de la Vera Cruz during the first week of September, with the afternoon of the 3rd marking the honouring of the Saint with the procession of the image. On the 7th, the pilgrimage is held in honour of the patron saint, on the esplanade of the Sanctuary of La Fuensanta. The following day sees the procession of the image of Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta, Patroness of the Four Towns and Lady of the Olive Grove. Many cultural, sporting and leisure activities are scheduled. Among them, the most popular are the night-time bull runs, which pass through the town's streets.

Worth mentioning is the ritual with which Garcíez celebrates the festivities of its patron saint, San Marcos, held between 23 and 26 April, in which the saint is carried in procession to the outskirts of the town so that he may bless the fields and bring water for the harvests. During these days, a dish of dried broad beans is prepared, and the so-called "roscos de San Marcos" are made, to be handed out among residents after the procession. Until 1977, the year in which the Marquis of Viana sold all the land within the district of Garcíez, it was he who covered the cost of the dried broad beans, oil and flour for the roscos, as well as the firewood for cooking. These San Marcos festivities end on the 26th, when the figure popularly known as the Señor de las Injurias is carried in procession. 

Carnival, during which local groups can be heard singing the amusing lyrics composed throughout the year, draws to a close with the burial of the legendary sardine, bringing this festival to an end.