Piorno Festival, exhibition of colours
During winter, the landscapes of ‘Sierra de Gredos’ mountain range is grey, green, and brown, non-saturated colours. However, when spring arrives, and the sun shines, this is completely different: it turns into yellow colours. This begins to appear on the lower slopes and, in June, extends to the summits. ‘Yellow piorno broom’ is the most extended bush of the central area of the country, specially the Gredos mountain range. For that reason, since 2011 the Piorno Festival is celebrated during the blooming season.
Piorno broom is a kind of bush that belongs to the legumes. The thickets consist of a bundle of tightly packed branches that are normally green until the flowering period, usually between May and June. Junipers, brooms and other plants live together with this specie, which grows above forest level. Its flowers are white and yellow.
Mountain goats among fields of piornos broom. | Shutterstoc
Piornos brooms were significant for the inhabitants of Gredos in the past since they were used as fuel, as a roof to protect against the cold and even to make brooms and baskets. Nowadays, they are not used like that anymore. However, these flowers are mainly used to regenerate poor and fallow land or after a fire, as well as to decorate.
On the other side, this bush is not only located in Gredos, but also around the Iberian Peninsula and part of Europa, such as France, Irland and North Africa. In Spain, it is common to find these flowers in Béjar, Guadarrama, Gata and La Serrota mountain ranges, the Iberian System, the mountains of León and the Pyrenees. However, the most outstanding area is, undoubtedly, in the Gredos mountain range, where 23 varieties of broom flourish on more than 65,000 hectares.
More than 10 years ago, the Association of Entrepreneurs of the North of Gredos, a non-profit association, decided to launch the Piorno Festival to attract more tourism to the area. However, not any kind of tourism, but a sustainable tourism that would bring new opportunities of jobs and boost the daily life and economy of these villages. This festival has also become a link between the villages. For example, in 2021, around 29 villages took part in Piorno festival.
There is a great variety of activities, such as yellow ‘tapas’, horse ridings, photography and ornament contests, etc… All of these celebrations take part during a whole month, in which wearing yellow is a very typical tradition.
