Places to visit in Spain: Bejar

The town of Béjar gets its name from the Spanish word “Abeja” meaning bumble bee. There is an organized bike ride called “5 Abejas” that takes place in Béjar and last year the town hosted a music festival called “Abejarock”.

Béjar belongs to the province of Salamanca and the town features lots of ancient architecture. For example, there are some churches and a convent. In this way, it is quite similar to Salamanca. However, what makes Béjar unique is the ancient walls that still remain from the 16^th century. Furthermore Béjar is home to the oldest “Plaza de Toros” in the whole of Spain.

Corpus Christi

The town is situated just 30km away from the foot of some snow capped mountains which offer spectacular views of Béjar and beyond. The inhabitants of this small Spanish town celebrate the festival of Corpus Christi in springtime. Corpus Christi is more commonly known as Holy Communion or Mass and simply means the representation of the body and blood of Christ using bread and wine. Corpus Christi is actually Latin for “the body of Christ”. The people of Béjar usually celebrate this religious festival by preparing a feast to share with their family and friends.

Moss Men

This Spanish festival is traditionally combined with a festival called “El Hombre de Musgo”. This is an ancient tradition dating back to the 12^th century when the “cristianos” regained power of the town that was under the control of the “moros” at the time. Their secret to not being seen by guards was covering themselves in dark green moss and entering under the cover of darkness.  Nowadays, residents cover themselves from head to toe in moss and parade through the streets, having petals tossed at them by onlookers.