Peal de Becerro

Municipality located in the east of the province, in the Sierra de Cazorla region. It has an enclave in the middle of the mountainous area. The main territory of the municipality is located to the west of the region on olive-growing countryside. In the original administrative division, this municipality was thus allowed to have forest resources, pastures in communal mountain areas. It is part of the hydrographic basin of the Guadalquivir, a river that crosses the municipal territory, as well as its tributary the Guadiana Menor, the Guadalentín and the Toya. Its landscape is dominated by extensive olive groves and cereal fields. In addition to the main population centre, Peal de Becerro, the villages of Toya, Hornos de Peal and the enclave of El Almicerán, integrated within the mountain area of the Sierra de Cazorla, are part of the municipality. In Toya there is a burial chamber of Iberian origin, declared a National Historic Monument in 1918. Inside was found "La Bicha de Toya" which is a sculpture and is currently in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid. The local economy is based on the cultivation of olive groves, metal processing, construction, the olive industry and meat derivatives. Within the Historical Heritage we highlight: The Chamber of Toya, the Clock Tower, the Mocha Tower, the Castle of Toya and the Aqueduct of Hornos de Peal.  

History

Since the Bronze Age, settlements have been documented in the municipality of Peal de Becerro, with an intense settlement in the courses of the Toya and Guadiana Menor rivers.

Nature

Peal de Becerro with an area of 147 km2, belongs to the region of Sierra de Cazorla. It has two districts, Toya and Hornos de Peal, and an enclave, El Almicerán, integrated into the Sierra de Cazorla, 55 km from the municipality. It is part of the hydrographic basin of the Guadalquivir, a river that crosses the municipality, as well as its tributary the Guadiana Menor, the Guadalentín and other minor water streams. In its territory the olive fields predominate and more secondarily, to the east of the region, a mountainous area, included in the Natural Park of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas.

Gastronomy

Since the Bronze Age, settlements have been documented in the municipality of Peal de Becerro, with an intense settlement in the courses of the Toya and Guadiana Menor rivers.

Parties

It has been customary since ancient times in Peal de Becerro to celebrate the day of Candlemas -February 2nd-, a festival of religious roots in which the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem is commemorated, as well as the purification of Mary. This has given rise to a curious tradition in Peal such as that of stringing a bouquet of oil doughnuts - called de la Candelaria - on a ribbon with which, until not long ago, children went to church carrying them in baskets that were adorned with aromatic herbs from the field. Today they continue to make dough figurines that are decorated with colored aniseed balls and that evoke the turtledoves - the bow ties - that Mary offered in the temple.