Bérchules, the town that celebrates New Year in August

Come to this town in Granada, Andalusia for some festive fun in the sun / Pixabay

20 July 2018, 13:00

New Year in Bérchules

When: 4th August 2018
Where: Bérchules, Spain
Website: turgranada.es

There is one Spanish town that has turned the traditional New Year's Eve around. We are talking about Bérchules, a town in Granada that always celebrates New Year's Eve on the first weekend of August.

With music, family, friends, party, the chime of bells and the eating of… lucky grapes, there’s nothing missing from the New Year celebrations in this small corner of the Alpujarra in Granada that see more than 10,000 people attend each year. Discover Bérchules, the region that celebrates New Year's Eve in August.

Bérchules, love potions and grapes

The municipality of Bérchules is located in the province of Granada, Andalusia. Located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada Natural Park, in the heart of the Granada Alpujarra, it has earned fame for being home to one of the most unique events in Spain. All Spaniards traditionally eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, but here in Bérchules they are eaten in the middle of August.

Bérchules has the architectural, scenic and cultural characteristics ideal for making it an exceptional tourist destination. With its staggered and stepped streets typical of the Alpujarra region, it is a village of Mozarabic origin that has managed to integrate itself into the landscape.

If you visit Bérchules you can't miss the fountain of Las Carmelas, one of the most popular tourist attractions and monuments of interest, thanks to the legend that ensures that all those who are single who drink from its water will soon find love.

New Year in August

Since 1994, Bérchules, a little town in the province of Granada, has celebrated a unique and well-known festival in August: New Year's Eve. The event came about by chance, after the inhabitants of the region were unable to welcome inthe new year due to an electricity blackout on the 31st of December.

Because of this, the inhabitants of Bérchules, who number less than a thousand, decided to move New Year's Eve to the first weekend of August. The party has been gaining followers and has crossed borders, so much so that today more than 10,000 people show up in the region to celebrate the new year in the middle of summer.

They have everything that Spaniards usually do at New Year – jamón tasting, nativity scenes, nougat, music, party, friends, family, lucky grapes and the ringing of bells… what more could you ask for at the end of the summer? For the townspeople it has become a great day in which the festive spirit reigns in the streets and squares of the town, where parades, night parties and the traditional recreation of Jesus on his donkey, the "paseo de la borriquilla", are all held to guarantee an unparalleled party.

If you want to welcome the new year at 35ºC, go to Bérchules New Year's Eve party in August, an event that started from a bit of bad luck that has become a unique festivity in the Spanish territory.