Author: N. Santos Yanguas

Download article as .pdf: Estrabón y las celebraciones festivas de los pueblos del Norte de la Península Ibéricai

The religious component of festivals from the Northern Spanish populations would entail an orientation towards a solution to the everyday problems; besides this, an obvious social sense would be added, for this reason the community engagement of all the inhabitants of the village on the same level should not seem odd. Such cultural manifestations indicate some sort of transversality, which is equivalent to the presence of a driving force: to find out the gods’ will and apply it to everyday’s life events, which would phase throughout the year according to the work activities, as well as the harvesting of fruits, although in many cases, especially in the preroman age (conveyed by Strabo) could refer to a harvesting economy. From here on, the presence of a polytheism strongly settled among the ancient populations in Northern Spain could be explained, not depicted by the Greek geographer but found in inscriptions and toponymic foundations that have survived to this day.