Logbook · 10 places

Sawdust carpets for Corpus Christi in Elche de la Sierra

Elche de la Sierra, Sierra del Segura, Albacete

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 3 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Albacete › Sierra del Segura › Elche de la Sierra › Sawdust carpets for Corpus Christi in Elche de la Sierra

Sawdust carpets for Corpus Christi in Elche de la Sierra

Activity · Elche de la Sierra, Sierra del Segura, Albacete

Image of Elche de la Sierra, not of the place itself.

The Alfombras de Serrín (sawdust carpets) are made on the night before Corpus Christi in the streets of Elche de la Sierra (Albacete), where residents, organised today into peñas, create mosaics and religious scenes with dyed sawdust and wood shavings. The idea was born in 1963, when Francisco Carcelén, after seeing the flower carpets of the Octava del Señor in Terrassa, thought of making use of the surplus wood shavings from local sawmills, dyed with the dyes from his clothing business; in the early hours of 28 May 1964 he made one together with ten young people from the town along the route of the procession, surprising the residents. Sawdust replaced shavings from 1967, the competition was established in 1969 and the Asociación de las Alfombras de Serrín was founded in 1990. In 2014 they were declared Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional (Spain's highest level of tourism recognition for festivals).

Noche previa al Corpus Christi

Photo: Espencat (Public domain)

What to see and do in Elche de la Sierra