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Powder Day. Tolox. February. Unique Festival

Diputación de Málaga
Tolox díadelospolvos

Powder Day. Tolox. February. Unique Festival

Plaza de la Constitución, 1
Zip Code 29109
952487108
Festivals > Festivals

This festival has been declared to be of Tourist Interest by the Provincial Council of Málaga.

Please check with the local Town Hall or Municipal Tourism Office for the festival date before planning any sightseeing activities.

Tolox is one of those towns that has kept its most ancestral traditions, as shown by some of the unique festivals in the province. A case in point is its own version of Carnival. Powder Day has been celebrated for decades. The event is held in the days before Ash Wednesday, at the same time as the Carnival and it involves locals throwing talcum powder at each other until they are completely covered.

This custom dates back to the 19th century when tradition has it that young men performed this strange ritual to seduce the young ladies of the town, who did not leave their houses on the day in question. The men then had to find a way of covering the objects of their desire with powder, thus proving their love. They would coat their palms in flour before attempting to enter their lady friends’ houses and smudging their faces.

Some suggest that the origins of this unusual declaration of love date back to an argument over a man between a Moorish woman and a Christian rival. They both worked at a bakery and ended up covering each other in flour. Today, during Carnival week, a shower of talcum powder gives locals and visitors alike a ghostly appearance, yet the romantic nature of the first feast is now lost.

The festival is also an excellent occasion to get to know this town in the heart of the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park and perched up on a mountainside, which makes it especially alluring. It is a good idea to walk up from the City Council square to where the old Arab fortress once stood and admire some ancient ruins. So take one of the steepest and narrowest streets in Tolox to the 16th-century church—which was once a mosque and even a synagogue.

Despite being located right in the middle of the Sierra de las Nieves, Tolox is a land of contrasts displaying a great combination of some Guadalhorce region traits and the Natural Park charms. Orange and olive trees will guide the visitor to the town, a white settlement peacefully lying on the slopes of the Sierra Blanca and Sierra Parda ranges.

 

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Tolox is one of those towns that has kept its most ancestral traditions, as shown by some of the unique festivals in the province. A case in point is its own version of Carnival. Powder Day has been celebrated for decades. The event is held in the days before Ash Wednesday, at the same time as the Carnival and it involves locals throwing talcum powder at each other until they are completely covered.

This custom dates back to the 19th century when tradition has it that young men performed this strange ritual to seduce the young ladies of the town, who did not leave their houses on the day in question. The men then had to find a way of covering the objects of their desire with powder, thus proving their love. They would coat their palms in flour before attempting to enter their lady friends’ houses and smudging their faces.

Some suggest that the origins of this unusual declaration of love date back to an argument over a man between a Moorish woman and a Christian rival. They both worked at a bakery and ended up covering each other in flour. Today, during Carnival week, a shower of talcum powder gives locals and visitors alike a ghostly appearance, yet the romantic nature of the first feast is now lost.

The festival is also an excellent occasion to get to know this town in the heart of the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park and perched up on a mountainside, which makes it especially alluring. It is a good idea to walk up from the City Council square to where the old Arab fortress once stood and admire some ancient ruins. So take one of the steepest and narrowest streets in Tolox to the 16th-century church—which was once a mosque and even a synagogue.

Despite being located right in the middle of the Sierra de las Nieves, Tolox is a land of contrasts displaying a great combination of some Guadalhorce region traits and the Natural Park charms. Orange and olive trees will guide the visitor to the town, a white settlement peacefully lying on the slopes of the Sierra Blanca and Sierra Parda ranges.

How to get there

Plaza de la Constitución, 1
Zip Code 29109

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Discover more about the province of Malaga

Discover more about the province of Malaga