Touristic Products of Sierra de las Nieves

Esparto grass, pita and palm
City: Alozaina
When: From April to August
Lenght: 2 Days
Price per person: Please,check for the number of persons
Min number of people: 4 persons
Max number of people: 15 persons
Working with plant fibers has been an important part of everyday life of our people. From time immemorial, in the rural world we can find objects have been used as the tools for the farmers. They are also present in the manufacture of tools for housework such as baskets, bags etc. Come and discover our cultural traditions!!!

You will go along with our elders to the arid and rocky areas such as Jorox. It is a good place where we can find these plant fibers. They will teach you how to pull up the esparto and palm and will explain the processes that they suffer before being used.
You will cut down the leaves of the pita and you will learn to draw the string, pounding with a mallet, rolling with “estezón” (a large, narrow blade) on a wooden board supported from the waist to the floor.
At noon, in a cottage, you will taste delicious”sopas hervías” made with the best products of our orchards in Jorox.
In addition to the collection of plant fibers, in June, month suitable for the collection of sedges, you will go to the banks of streams near the village to collect these fresh plants which you will use them to make a whip in a craft workshop.
This whip is made with fresh sedge braided, that pass tightly around the head and giving the end a sharp blow in the air with a loud creak.
This tradition still continues in the village of Alozaina, whose purpose was to scare the devil the procession go of Corpus Christi.
Once the esparto grass has been cooked, dried and crushed for easy handling, you will learn in the craft workshop of plant fibers together with our elders to weave the esparto grass to make “pleita”.
Furthermore, palms collected will be used to make the traditional small broom that you will be able to carry it to home as a souvenir of your experience.
As rich and complementary activity in your agricultural work, you will visit the museum of tools and customs in “Arte de mis manos” company to get to know the important ethnographic collection has been dedicated to field work and household chores. Thanks to this first contact, you will know the knowledge and skills that are part of our cultural heritage.
Some of the objects we find there, they are examples of pieces made with some of the plant fibers (palm, pita and esparto grass).
Then, you will visit the facilities of the company, stopping at the various craft workshops that are held there.
During your visit as a craftsman, we want to awaken the artist you carry inside. So we invite you to enjoy a pleasant and fun experience in a craft workshop with the help of a local artisan. It is an engraving technique by burning support with a glowing tip.
You will make a wooden spoon which you will carry it to home as souvenir of your experience as a craftsman.
Company: Arde de mis Manos
Contact: Mariló Cejudo
Phone and email: 952 48 02 28 – 647 15 40 24 - info@artedemismanos.com
Web: www.artedemismanos.com