Castellar de Santiago is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 1,819 inhabitants as of 2022, with a density of 20.59 people per Km². Due to its proximity, it is part of the  Valdepeñas judicial district.

Geography 
Castellar de Santiago is located southeast of Valdepeñas, with the closest large city, Córdoba, being 150 kilometers away, and 212 kilometers away from Spain's capital, Madrid.
Castellar de Santiago's vast landscape flourishes on the northern slope of the Sierra Morena mountain range, surrounded by olive trees, vines of many types, and rich land for farming and growing produce.

Its mountains consist of holm oak trees, cistus, juagarzos (Cistus monspeliensis), broom (Cystisus), thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and home to different animals throughout.

When Arab groups came to the area, they believed the area to be sacred as it was home to many oak forests, and 'baptized' the area under the name Mata de Vencaliz.

Demographics 
Castellar de Santiago is home to 1,725 Spanish residents and 94 foreign residents, with the majority demographic under male.

Fesitivities 
Like all towns, Castellar de Santiago has several customs, some are maintained and others have been lost over the years. 

The main festivals during the year are the 'El Cristo de la Misericordia', on September 14; 'San Marcos Festival', on April 25; and the August Fair, on August 15.

Bonfires 
One of the customs that have stayed since time immemorial are the bonfires that inaugurate the festivities on the eve of the Christ of Mercy festival (mentioned below). Every September 13, at nine o'clock at night, all the residents of the town light their bonfires, which are located in the middle of the streets, and with them the festivities are inaugurated. At the same time, hundreds of rockets are launched in honor of the Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia. As this happens, the entire town looks like it is burning from the inside as well as from the outside.

These bonfires are made using the branches from the local chaparro (Quercus coccifera) tree, a tree that grows abundantly in the area.

When the bonfire is extinguished, the neighbors prepare their grills and have a barbecue together, cooking chorizos, bacon, sardines, and more.

Most Holy Christ of Mercy 
The Most Holy Christ of Mercy is the patron saint of Castellar de Santiago and his annual festival is on September 14. It is considered the most important festival of the town. That morning, the procession in honor of the Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia begins, accompanied by a music band and "adorned" with shotguns and fireworks throughout its entire journey.

The closing ceremony, on the night of September 16, is done by means of a fireworks display. This festival is becoming increasingly important and more and more visitors are coming to its central events around the Plaza de la Constitución. These festivities are accompanied by the Christ bonfires, a collection of bonfires lit on the eve of the festivity.

Around the bonfires, neighbors gather to share a barbecue of cut meats, sardines, and more. Little is known about the origin of the Festival of the Bonfires in Castellar de Santiago beyond interpretations of hypothetical origins.

The bonfires are linked to the origin of Castellar; either as a custom carried by the first settlers who arrived through the 'Cañada Conquense' (Ravine of Cuenca) from the highlands of the center of the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the 16th century; either as a result of the repopulation of this region from other latitudes in successive historical periods, revitalizing ancient rituals similar to those of other neighboring populations.

The beginnings of the festival could also be linked with the agricultural character of the town; the progressive victory of cultivating pastures and the role of fire in the productive change that gradually settles in that historical moment, or the victory over fire as a destructive element.

Be that as it may, fire, an element related to Mediterranean culture with ancestors in all cultures that have left their mark on the peninsula at one time or another, will be the "protagonist" every September 13 in Castellar de Santiago; constituting the originality of the Hogueras de Castellar having faithfully maintained the simplicity of the ceremony and its familiar and endearing character, which allow us to live a rite that has been unchanged for centuries.

In the preceding days and especially on the morning of the 13th, they will gather branches, making a mound of firewood at each door that is lit at 9:00 p.m.

At its highest point, the smoke and incandescent embers that burst from the green tangles will dance in the sky to the beat of the rockets and shotguns.

Saints (All Saints Day) 
Another tradition unique to Castellar de Santiago is the day of Saints. On the night of October 31 (known as Halloween in some cultures), it is a tradition that the young townspeople (although older people also participate), meet in houses, usually barns, and spend the night together. There they have dinner and celebrate with a party. After the festivities, everyone decides who to sleep with for that night. Some people also follow the tradition of Isidore the Labourer (San Isidro Labrador) by spending the day in a farmer's field.

Festival of San Marcos 
The festival of San Marcos is one of the most colorful and fun in the town. The festival is reduced to a pilgrimage that begins on April 25 and extends for more days if it limits to a weekend. The festival is celebrated in a place called La Herrumbrosa (usually called Rumblosa or Rumbrosa by its inhabitants) located in the foothills of Sierra Morena, right on the border between the province of Ciudad Real and Jaén, about 8 km from Castellar de Santiago. It is a very beautiful place, full of trees, where all of Castellar moves during those days. People bring their tents and spend several days in the field- eating, dining, and drinking in celebration. At night, there is a stage where an orchestra or a rock group performs and everyone dances. During the days that San Marcos lasts, the town is empty because all the Castilians have moved near to Herrumbrosa.

The Mayos 
The Mayos is another particular tradition of this town. On the first day of May, many houses have their façades painted with messages to the town's married people. This tradition, however, has been getting less popular due to people not fully understanding the humour in the tradition.

Sometimes, messages can barely be understood due to their lack of context. Ranging from nice messages to insults, the "mayos" are without a doubt an important and interesting way of expressing their culture and traditions.

History

Origins 
Castellar de Santiago and its region have been inhabited since the earliest times of man's arrival in the Iberian Peninsula . Due to the mountainous landscape, hunting was very abundant and the natural shelters offered by the sierra made life as pleasant as it could be for primitive man. There are numerous Iron Age settlements in the area, where Iberians and Celts enjoyed this strategic site between the plateau and Andalusia. A place of passage to the Mediterranean ports, it was crossed by Hannibal's Road in his war expedition against Rome, in the Second Punic War. The great influence of the Obulco and Cástulo mines in the area led the Romans to build an important road to cross the "Saltus Castulonensis" or Sierra Morena, meaning many groups could have crossed the pass through Aldeaquemada and Castellar de Santiago.

Castellar de Santiago, along with the decline of the Roman Empire and the weakness of the Germanic peoples, led to the entry into the peninsula by the Arabs around the year 711. What at first was a tentative incursion became an almost complete invasion, with the exception of some areas north of the peninsula, where some Christian kingdoms remained.

In 1212, after the victory of Las Navas de Tolosa , and according to the Geographical Historical Dictionary of the Province of Ciudad Real by D. Inocente Hervás y Buendía, the Archbishop of Toledo remained in the Calatrava fortress consolidating the recovered positions using as weapons the repopulation of the lands seized from the invaders and the dispossession together with the Calatravos Knights of the squares and castles on the Castellar side of the Sierra Morena mountain range.

The tower or 'castillete' from which the town takes its name was then no longer used as a surveillance and defense bastion but instead beicoming the first settlement sheltered under its protection, descended from the current Castellón hill to its definitive seat on the hill formed to the east and west sides of Castellar, between the streams of the Rambla de Castellar and the Fontona, known as the Mata de Mencaliz, from where it got its original name; Castellar de la Mata de Mencaliz.

Castellar de la Mata is located in the Campo de Montiel under the influence of the Order of Santiago where its location has stayed ever since. When it was first inhabited it was located conveniently close to the river, on top of a hill for the evacuation of rainwater, protected from the north winds and close to a road or with its own link on another road at the time.

After geometric growth at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, protected by the repopulations of the Order of Santiago, it became independent from Señorío de la Torre de Juan Abad through a letter of independence from Felipe II signed on September 14, 1564, through the payment of five thousand ducats that served to cover the costly wars against the Turks. It would then have 360 neighbors, of which 30 were Hidalgos.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Ciudad Real