New Year’s Eve in August

The small town of Berchules in Granada rolls Christmas, New Year and the Three Kings into one celebration that takes place on the first Sunday of August.

Eating the 12 grapes by candle light

It’s 30 years since the small town with a population of around 1,000 experienced a total blackout when all electricity was cut of on the evening of December 31, 1994 and the residents had to listen to a transistor radio to hear the bells chime and eat their traditional 12 grapes by candlelight.

Needless to say, they weren’t happy with the local electricity company and all of the bars and restaurants that expected rich pickings from the night lost all of the income that they were looking forward to.

Meeting to discuss the situation and to sympathise with each other, a local businessman jokingly suggested that if they held it in August, the chances of a blackout would be reduced considerably.

History says that a local journalist said that they wouldn’t be capable of doing this and like the proverbial red rag to a bull, New Year’s Eve was moved to August and with it went the local Nativity competition, The Three King’s Parade and everything that makes New Year’s Eve so much fun.

Festival of Tourist Interest

In 2020 it was declared a Festival of Tourist Interest by the Government of Andalucia and the bars and restaurants are happy as each year the event attracts upwards of 10,000 visitors, some of whom make a special stop at the Fountain of Las Carmelas which promises that all those who are single who drink from its water will soon find love.

Yet another excuse to visit one of the many quirky Spanish towns that abound throughout the country.