The parade of the 27 peñas, with a heat wave that, finally, gave a respite, filled the heart of Sigüenza with the joy of the friendship of these groups, which are the oldest in the province of Guadalajara.
Finally, the heat wave had been giving Sigüenza a break since yesterday. In 2024, some seguntinos not used to temperatures above 35 degrees, received with satisfaction the drop in mercury to values, even below normal for this time of year.
The slightly over 20 degrees at eight in the evening, when the peñas parade began on Avenida de Juan Carlos I, could not handle the heat of the peñas’ friendship, nor their desire to party.
The 27 peñas that have registered this year in the City Hall registry: Apagón, Chingui, Chudarata, Desenfreno, Despiste, Estafa, Estrellaos, Galos, Golpe, Grupo Mixto, Hamaos, Increíbles, Kaos, Mendrugo, Movida, Pendón, Pepinillos, Peseta, Pifostio, Puntazo, Rampa, SiroKo, Skapados, Tinte, Tropezón, Los Verdugos and Sigüenza Baila, covered the asphalt of Avenida de Juan Carlos I completely. The peñista tradition of Sigüenza is probably the oldest in the province of Guadalajara, so up to four of them have already exceeded 50 years of friendship: Tropezón, Rampa, Pepinillos and Mendrugo.
And if the parade has been even more special and heartwarming for someone than for the peñas, it has been for the queen, king and children and youth ladies.
Their float was the first of the six that paraded through the heart of Sigüenza, with the city watching their joy on both sides of their path. Above it, Lorena García Cabra, queen; Álvaro Melús, king; Itziar Jiménez, children’s queen: and Ainara Martínez, Valeria Fernández, Carmen Jiménez, Alejandra Gudiel, Nerea Gómez, Daniela Zamarreño and Anya Rupérez as children and youth ladies, carried the illusion of the parties, and of this unforgettable year for them, reflected in their faces.
Punctually, at eight in the evening, the procession began its journey towards Plaza de Don Hilario Yabén, through Calle Villaviciosa, to climb up to the Cathedral by Cardenal Mendoza. The image of the first one, the queen and ladies, with the background of the two towers of the seguntina Fortis, is one of the classics of the first day of the most select of the San Roque festivities.
This year, the last stretch, through Plaza del Obispo Don Bernardo, they did it on foot, with the floats diverting through Calle Medina, and thus facilitating the flow of the parade.
Little by little, Plaza Mayor was filling up with the peñistas’ outfits which were particularly fun this year. Punk movement, a circus, the fabulous 20s, Avatar, or the Wild West, could be seen parading through the heart of Sigüenza without interruption. Meanwhile, the city watched them pass, amused and expectant.
At around nine thirty in the evening, all the peñas took their places in Plaza Mayor. It was then the turn of the mayor of Sigüenza, María Jesús Merino, who briefly wished the seguntinos a happy festival.
Every year, two peñas, representatives of all of them, participate in the different festive events. This year it is the turn of Los Skapados and El Despiste. Their representatives also wanted to address a few brief words to a Plaza Mayor full of spectators.
Finally, the mayor lit the announcing rocket which, seconds later, exploded with joy in the Seguntino sky. An explosion that made Sierra Norte aware that the San Roque of the IX Centennial had begun, as emphasized by the pyrotechnic sign that, at the foot of the cathedral, briefly illuminated San Roque 2024.
Today, for the first time in these festivities, the giants and big heads of Sigüenza will come out, a tradition that dates back to 1911.
Referrer: MiMub in Spanish
