The Malaga village celebrating its heritage with roasted chestnuts this weekend

The village of Alcaucín in the east of Malaga province is inviting visitors to its annual chestnut festival which is taking place on Saturday 8 November. As well as roasted chestnuts, there will also be roasted sweet potatoes, roast chicken, traditional 'mantecado' biscuits and aniseed liqueur.

The festival starts at 12pm with a Zumba masterclass led by Evelyn Ríos. The music will continue until 2pm, when the roast chicken and potatoes tasting will begin. At 5pm Infinity Show will provide the entertainment and the roasting of chestnuts and distribution of mantecados will begin.

At 8pm María Ramos, the president of Asociación Esperanza breast cancer charity, will give a speech and this will be followed by the presentation of the 'chestnut of honour' to a resident of the village. The music will continue with Infinity Show and DJ José Muñoz. There will be market stalls where traditional Andalusian products such as wine, cold meats, oil and 'turron' can be purchased.

The origin of the chestnut festival can be traced back to All Saint's Day when young people would go from house to house asking for chestnuts, sweet potatoes and traditional sweets to eat in the town square at the stroke of midnight.

In 1992, the Albahaca women's association wanted to revive the tradition and given the great success of the initiative, which attracted residents from nearby villages, the town hall established the festival and it has been taken place over the first weekend of November since then.