The rural town of Anguiano celebrates its patron saint day (Mary Magdalene) with a fiesta that for some takes place half a metre off the ground - the Danza de los Zancos or Stilt Dance. Half a dozen or so of the devotees that escort the saint around the town do so whirling and wheeling to the sound of bagpipes and drums, perched on stilts. Twice a year, in honour of Santa María Magdalena, eight villagers strap on 20 inch wooden stilts, pull on garish shirts and leap around the village streets bearing a small icon of the saint. The tradition has been handed down from father to son for generations and is believed to have begun when shepherds used stilts to traverse their flooded fields.
In Anguiano today, the action begins at the main church, where the dancers pick up a small icon of the Magdalena. Then they "dance" with her down the front steps of the church and down the steep, cobbled streets in the town square. The dancers move in a tight, spinning motion that requires plenty of dexterity and bravery. One of the key streets they travel on is named especially for them, the Cuesta de los Danzadores. From there they proceed farther down the hill where they drop off the icon at a small shrine created just for her.
