
Traditional holidays. A Heritage Community of the Sierra Norte
Intangible heritage through living cultural manifestations
It is an initiative that arises from a group of technicians from the Commonwealth of the Sierra Norte de Madrid as a result of their participation in the European Heritage Days in 2018 and 2019 at the invitation of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Community of Madrid. It was born as an idea to create a working group around the festivities in the Sierra Norte that will lead to the creation of a heritage community following the principles of the 2005 Faro Agreement.
The vocation of this Heritage Community is to encourage the participation of people who can expose the mountain heritage through specific actions, as well as involve Madrid educational centers in the importance of the Sierra Norte de Madrid in the conservation of the cultural heritage.
The fundamental objective is to protect and transmit our intangible heritage, specifying the characteristics of each locality and extolling the common values that unite the Sierra Norte region.
Video presentation
Description:
The value of heritage communities stems from «places, people and stories» from the activities that the neighbors are developing and their participation.
Objectives
- Promote collaboration between mountain municipalities and knowledge by residents of the different activities that are carried out in each one of them.
- Give a voice to the people who are in the territory and demand that the administration take their opinions and concerns into account and involve them in the creation of projects: return the prominence to the neighbors in the processes of cultural heritage.
- Sensitize and educate the population in the conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
- Create a transversal group in the region that works for the dissemination of our heritage diversity.
- Guarantee the continuity and improve the quality of the activities carried out in each of the Traditional Festivals.
- Provide greater visibility to the traditional festivals of the Sierra Norte by creating a brand image that brings together all the proposals in one, with an annual calendar that facilitates the joint dissemination of the various traditions.
It is important to give cohesion and visibility to the territorial work based on a project and not only from the perspective of a municipality or its council.
Combining tradition, landscape and gastronomy, through the protagonists of that culture.
Development
Documentation and research:
- Process of identification of the traditional festivals of the Sierra Norte de Madrid based on three criteria: festivals with an existence of more than three years, festivals declared of tourist interest, festivals that recover a tradition.
Citizen participation:
- Creation of a network of associations and municipalities where traditional festivals are kept in accordance with these three criteria.
- Configuration of an assembly body that includes associations and municipalities to define what and how this heritage community wants to be.
Cultural tourism:
- Organization, celebration and dissemination of the festival in each municipality.
Training and education:
- Information and training sessions on the project open to all interested persons.
- Organization of the Nuestros patrimonios workshop, in collaboration with the Patrimoni project of the Jaume I University of Castellón, to reflect on the concept of cultural heritage following the principles of the 2005 Faro Agreement.
- Organization of workshops, conferences, exhibitions, patrimonial visits associated with the festivities.
- Transmission of knowledge from one generation to another through associations (for example, dance groups, traditional cuisine on the occasion of festivals)
Financing:
- The coordination team is made up of technicians from the Mancomunidad de la Sierra Norte. The festivals and the events associated with them are financed by the town halls, associations and residents.
Those who participate:
- The Path and the Villa (Villavieja del Lozoya)
- Pastoral Route (Lozoyuela-Navas-Sieteiglesias)
- Retama Festival (Navarredonda)
- Pero Harvesting Festival (La Hiruela)
- Harvesting and Threshing (El Berrueco)
- Traditional Braojos (Braojos)
- Madarcos Yesterday and Today (Madarcos)
- Innovation Center of the tourism sector "Villa de San Roque". Commonwealth of the Sierra Norte
Institutions that go from directing to facilitating. More open public structures generate more autonomy in the territory.
Create teamwork dynamics and collaborative models that promote inter-municipal projects.