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Cuento y leyenda de Comares

Diputación de Málaga
Portada Guía de cuentos y leyendas de la Axarquía.ESP

Cuento y leyenda de Comares

Zip Code 29195
Chronicles and Legends (si se trata de historia)

Its name comes from the Arabic “hisn qumarich” meaning castle up the hill.

  • Name of its inhabitants:

Comarenos.

  • Legend:

There are two legends or stories that deal with the link between the French bishop and confessor Saint Hilary of Poitiers (315-368) and the inhabitants of Comares. The first one talks about the uprising by a group of Mozarabs in January, 1.442 due to the way they were treated under Muslim laws. Since the events coincided with the feast of Saint Hilary and that the clash occurred around his estates, he was named patron saint in memory of those Christians who in his name went out to defend their rights.

The other version tells of those times when the town feared the arrival of the plague which was already affecting other neighboring towns, people asked the saint for help and protection; when the plague did not arrive, the people, in gratitude, gave him the title of protector and patron saint..

As in other places in the district, there is another popular legend in Comares which credits the building of the chapel of the Rosary (currently the Sacristy) to a sailor who, when he was about to be shipwrecked off the coast of Torre del Mar, promised that if he survived, he would ask for a chapel to be built in the first church he saw; this turned out to be the church in Comares, despite being far away. Once the sailor came ashore, and thankful for the help, he set about helping with the cost of the chapel.

Traditions repeat themselves and as in other towns of the area, especially in the aforementioned Alfarnatejo, Comares also has the tradition of washing the wool. The young lovers who were about to marry would take the tufts of wool and wash them in the river Cueva so they would be nice and loose. The days following this were ideal for getting together and have a good time singing songs and telling jokes which were usually risquê.

A historical tradition tells of the time when this Moorish town capitulated to King Ferdinand and many Muslim families decided to leave in fear of reprisals. Before the people left, it was decided to bring in families from the interior of the Iberian Peninsula in 1.490. The thirty Moorish families that stayed behind, to avoid any problems, decided to convert to Christianity and to baptized and receive pardon; this happened on the corner of a street now known as calle del Perdón (Pardon Street). Since those days, in remembrance of this, after the three bells that call the faithful to mass, there are another thirty in memory of the families that were baptized and gained pardon. Even today, this tradition is repeated on the first Sunday of December in remembrance of that ancient tradition.

 

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