Village
Pozuelo de Tábara is a village in the province of Zamora with 150 inhabitants, 36 kilometres from the provincial capital, which belonged from its founding in 1371 to the seigneury of Tábara, later the marquisate of Távara; by the mid-19th century it had 170 inhabitants. It preserves rural architecture of stone, wood and above all rammed earth, with typical houses, dovecotes, chimneys and an old bridge, as well as the church of San Juan, remodelled several times, with a Baroque main altarpiece. Its cuisine includes cocido, garlic soup and rice a la zamorana. Every 26 December, the feast of San Esteban, El Tafarrón comes out, a character dressed in straw with cowbells and a black mask with hare's ears representing the devil.
Curiosity
Every 26 December, the day of San Esteban, a masked figure comes out into the street dressed in crushed rushes and a black and red mask topped with goat's horns and hare's ears, who strikes the residents with a ball hanging from a stick.
Curiosity
She accompanies the Tafarrón dressed in a flowered housecoat, an "M" sewn on the back, a small doll pinned on and a hat with a veil; together they go round the village collecting the Christmas box in a ladle during the feast of San Esteban.
Historical milestone
A pastoral visitation of that date cites for the first time the brotherhood that organises the masquerade of the Tafarrón, documentary proof that the rite was already celebrated in the village at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Activity
At dusk on 26 December some offices in Latin preserved by oral tradition are sung in the church, one of the most singular acts of the feast, before the procession of the saint with dulzaina and drum.
Curiosity
During the procession, the masked figure goes ahead of the litter of San Esteban and performs ritual bows before the image: the gesture that orders the coexistence between the character of pagan root and the Christian liturgy.
Activity
From 7 December the stewards treat the whole village to chocolate and the young men go through the streets ringing cowbells until Christmas, announcing for almost three weeks the coming out of the Tafarrón.
Curiosity
The day after the feast lots are drawn among the young men for who will play the Tafarrón and who the Madama the following year, and the incoming stewards receive the cacha, the staff of office that symbolises the post.
Monument
Much remodelled over the centuries, it still shows elements of late Gothic and of the Renaissance; its bell gable and a great Baroque altarpiece stand out, and beneath its vaults the Vigils of San Esteban are sung.
Monument
The parish church holds a high altarpiece of Baroque style and presents a remodelled belfry gable and an entrance porch, in a village of 150 inhabitants located thirty-six kilometres from the provincial capital.
Monument
Among the traditional constructions of the municipal district, raised in stone, wood and adobe, an old bridge is preserved that crossed the watercourse on the outskirts of the urban centre, on the road towards Tábara.
Monument
The dovecotes are spread over the municipal district next to stone enclosures and the old threshing floors, forming with the church the repertoire of rural architecture that defines the built landscape of the municipality.
Historical milestone
The lordship of Tábara, of which Pozuelo formed part from its creation in 1371, was later transformed into a marquisate under the Pimentel family; the village followed its ups and downs until the abolition of the jurisdictional lordships.
Historical milestone
After the provincial division of 1833, Pozuelo was attached in 1834 to the judicial district of Alcañices; the suppression of that district in 1983 moved it to that of Zamora, to which it has belonged ever since.
Curiosity
The masked figure of 26 December wears a costume of straw and a black mask with red rouge, hare's ears and whiskers of animal hair, and carries in his hands a ladle and a decorated ball.
Curiosity
The village had some one hundred and seventy inhabitants in the middle of the 19th century and keeps one hundred and fifty in 2025, a surprisingly stable demographic curve in a comarca marked by emptying.
Curiosity
The traditional dwelling combines stone rubble with wood and adobe, and is accompanied by massive chimneys and fenced yards, a construction type shared with the whole Tierra de Tábara.
Nature
The municipality extends over 25.39 square kilometres around 701 metres of altitude, with a density of 5.91 inhabitants per square kilometre, between cereal fields and scrubland.
Activity
On 24 June the village celebrates San Juan, its other great event of the year alongside that of 26 December; the two order a festive calendar that has hardly changed in several generations.
Food and drink
Cocido, garlic soup, rice in the Zamora manner, pulses and stews form the basis of the local table, completed with roasts of veal, lamb, kid and game meat from the scrubland.
Food and drink
The mushrooms of autumn, the cured sausages of the pig slaughter, the cheeses and the traditional pastry-making close a recipe book that the municipality shares with the rest of the villages of the Tierra de Tábara.