Andújar and Alcalá la Real now have dates to switch on Christmas in the province of Jaén
Andújar will switch on its lights on Friday, November 27, and Alcalá la Real on Friday, December 4, with zambomba, carols and a New Year's concert already on the calendar. Of the capital and the rest of the towns, what there was last year, up to the San Antón bonfires.
Redacción ·
Christmas arrives in the province of Jaén at the end of November, when the first towns switch on their lights. Then come the nativity scenes, the markets, the zambombas and the Three Kings' parade, and the cycle does not close until mid-January, with the San Antón bonfires.
At this point few town councils have set a date for their 2026 programme. We cover those first. For the rest, which is usually presented at the end of November, we give what was done last year so you know what to expect.
| Fecha | Lugar | Cita |
|---|---|---|
| Del 21 de noviembre al 8 de diciembre | Úbeda y Baeza | XXX Festival de Música Antigua |
| Viernes 27 de noviembre | Andújar | Encendido de la Navidad |
| Viernes 4 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real, paseo de los Álamos | Encendido del alumbrado |
| Viernes 11 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real, SAFA | XXXIII Pregón de Navidad |
| Sábado 12 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real, Capuchinos | Concierto navideño de la Brass Band |
| Viernes 18 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real, Teatro Martínez Montañés | «Piano Sureño por Navidad», de Diego Valdivia |
| Sábado 19 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real | Zambomba flamenca «Alumbra Alcalá 3» |
| Del 20 al 26 de diciembre | Alcalá la Real, Teatro Martínez Montañés | Coral Alfonso XI, gala, villancicos y «Pascuas de Antaño» |
| Domingo 27 de diciembre | Andújar | Agasajo a la Virgen de la Cabeza por la Navidad |
| Domingo 3 de enero | Alcalá la Real, Teatro Martínez Montañés | Concierto de Año Nuevo |
From November 21 to December 8: early music in Úbeda and Baeza
The Úbeda and Baeza Early Music Festival reaches its thirtieth edition and is held from Saturday, November 21 to Tuesday, December 8. This year it revolves around sacred music, with the motto «SACRA: Músicas de lo sagrado», and once again fills churches, chapels and palaces of the two World Heritage cities with concerts in the weeks before Christmas. The programme and tickets will be published on the festival website.
Andújar, the first to switch on the lights
Andújar will switch on its Christmas lights on Friday, November 27, according to the local holidays calendar of the Town Council. The rest of the programme will cover all of December and has not yet been presented. Last year the switch-on was in the plaza de la Constitución, at eight in the evening, with a gospel concert afterwards.
This year Andújar's Christmas also has an event of its own for the Jubilee Year marking 800 years of the Virgen de la Cabeza: on Sunday, December 27, the agasajo to the Virgin for the birth of her Son, which appears in the Diocese calendar. The time is yet to be confirmed.
Alcalá la Real, with the programme in hand
Alcalá la Real is the town with its Christmas furthest advanced. On Friday, December 4 the extraordinary lighting is inaugurated on the paseo de los Álamos, and on Friday, December 11 comes the XXXIII Christmas Proclamation, at 20:30 in the SAFA assembly hall, organised by the Escuelas Profesionales Sagrada Familia.
Music rules the rest of the month. On Saturday, December 12, the Brass Band de Alcalá gives a Christmas concert at 20:00 in the Capuchinos assembly hall, with free entry until full capacity. On Friday, December 18, the pianist Diego Valdivia presents «Piano Sureño por Navidad», at 21:00 in the Teatro Martínez Montañés, for 6 euros in advance and 10 at the box office. On Saturday, December 19 is the flamenco zambomba «Alumbra Alcalá 3», with the collaboration of the Hermandad del Rocío.
At the Martínez Montañés, at 20:00, follow the concert of the Coral Alfonso XI (Sunday, December 20), the Christmas Gala of the Cofradía de las Angustias (Monday, December 21), «Cantamos Villancicos» by the former pupils of Padre Talavera (Wednesday, December 23) and «Pascuas de Antaño», by the Rondalla y Coro de Frailes (Saturday, December 26). For children, on Tuesday, December 22 at 18:00, the puppets of «La nena de la Jungla», for 8 euros. On Sunday, January 3, at 20:00, the Joven Orquesta Sinfónica de Jaén closes the festivities with waltzes and polkas in the New Year Concert, for 10 euros in advance and 15 at the box office. It is all in the autumn-winter programme, and tickets at entradas.alcalalareal.es.
The rest of Alcalá's Christmas, the one by Festejos, has not yet been presented. In 2025 there was a Christmas Market in the centre from December 11 to 28, the Christmas Train, a popular chocolate party, Tardebuena and Tardevieja in the plaza del Ayuntamiento, visits of the Royal Emissary to the villages and the Three Kings' parade on January 5.
In the capital, what there was in 2025
The Jaén Town Council has not yet presented Christmas 2026. Last year it did so on November 27, with 115 activities between December 5 and January 5. This is what there was, to give an idea:
Christmas 2025 in Jaén capital
- Switch-on: on Friday, December 5 at 19:00 on calle Bernabé Soriano, free, with Ajopringue and a Coverland concert. There were 220 arches, 300 illuminated trees and a large star in the plaza de Santa María.
- Christmas Market in the plaza de la Constitución: from December 5 to January 4, with 33 stalls of crafts, gifts, decoration and food, an old carousel and the magic mailbox.
- Christmas train: it left from the plaza de la Constitución from December 5 to January 4, from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 17:00 to 22:00, and only in the morning on the 24th and the 31st.
- Children's area with rides in the parque de La Concordia throughout Christmas.
- Nativity scenes: the Belén Bíblico of the grandparents María and Rafael, in the Teatro Darymelia, with free entry, and the route of the Concurso Municipal de Belenes «Ciudad de Jaén», from December 13 to January 4.
- Videomapping on the Town Hall façade on December 19, with showings at 19:00, 20:00, 21:00 and 22:00.
- In the plaza de Santa María, on December 20, the 47 Festival de Villancicos and the Aguinaldo de Jaén.
- Zambombas, charangas and concerts around the neighbourhoods: 66 in total, in Bernabé Soriano, San Ildefonso, San Juan, the Bulevar or El Pósito.
- Three Kings' parade: on January 5 at 18:30 from the plaza de Santa María to the glorieta Blas Infante, with six children's floats, three royal thrones and 633 participants. In the morning, the Kings received the children at the Town Hall.
The 2027 parade will be on Tuesday, January 5. The Town Council has not yet given a time or route. Last year it cut it short at the last minute because of the rain and removed the Bulevar section, so it is worth checking its notices that same day.
Úbeda, Bailén, Linares and Martos
The large town councils of the province are still preparing their programmes. In Linares the switch-on points to Thursday, December 3, a day earlier than in 2025, but the Town Council has not yet announced it. Last year it was like this:
Christmas 2025 in the villages
- Úbeda: «Ciudad de los Niños» in the back garden of the Hospital de Santiago and a giant skating rink in the bullring, from November 28 to January 6. Lights switched on on December 4 at 18:30. Nativity scene by the Unión de Cofradías in the church of Santo Domingo, mapping «Un cuento de estrellas» on the Sacra Capilla del Salvador and a Christmas market on calle Rastro, next to the Oficina de Turismo, on Saturdays 6, 13 and 20 and Sunday 7 December, from 11:00 to 21:00.
- Úbeda, zambombas: la Lagrimera next to the Mercado de Abastos, the one at Santo Tomás on calle Emperador Carlos and the one at Humildad y Fe in the back courtyard of the Ayuntamiento. Parade on January 5 at 17:45, from plaza de Andalucía to the Hospital de Santiago.
- Bailén: it started on November 30 in plaza de la Constitución with the Christmas train, the market and the lights switched on at 19:00. The colegio Sagrado Corazón put on a living nativity scene on December 17 and 18 in the atrium of the Encarnación. There was a skating rink on paseo de las Palmeras from January 2 to 6 and a Parade on the 5th at 19:00 from calle del Monumento.
- Martos: the Fiesta de la Aceituna is held every December 8, the day the harvest begins. In 2025 more than ten thousand hollows of bread with oil and cod were handed out in parque Manuel Carrasco and the first oil was extracted with an old press. This year it is the XLVI edition, still without a programme.
- Linares: the lights were switched on on Thursday, December 4, with lights in some eighty streets and squares, a large cone of light in plaza del Ayuntamiento and a nativity scene in plaza de San Francisco.
Traditions that never fail
There are dates that do not depend on any programme because they always fall on the same day. The Diputación lists them in its tourism agenda, Jaén Paraíso Interior:
Festivals with a fixed date
- Cambil, night of December 7 to 8: La Tambora. The residents walk through the village with a large drum and dawn songs, and the Virgen de la Aurora comes out in procession at midnight, at four and at six in the morning.
- Jimena, December 13: the lumbres de Santa Lucía, with pumpkin, corn and sweets that the Ayuntamiento invites you to try.
- Santisteban del Puerto, December 26: San Esteban, the patron saint, with lumbres and a procession.
- Fontanar, in Pozo Alcón: the living nativity scene, which the Diputación places on the Saturday closest to Christmas. This year it would be Saturday, December 26, pending confirmation by the Ayuntamiento.
- Huesa, around San Silvestre: on the eve, the «Castillos del Santo», bonfires of pine wood, are burned in the plaza de la iglesia.
January 16 and 17: the lumbres de San Antón close the cycle
In Jaén, Christmas does not end with the Reyes. Around San Antón dozens of lumbres burn in the neighbourhoods, with melenchones, rosetas and circle dances, and the city runs the Carrera Urbana Internacional at night, one of the best-known ten-kilometre races in Spain. The festival and the race have been of Interés Turístico Nacional since 2019.
Last year the Ayuntamiento's programme ran from January 15 to 18: pregón at the Darymelia, institutional lumbre and blessing of animals in plaza de San Juan on Friday 16, and the race and 38 lumbres on Saturday 17. In 2027 San Antón falls on a Sunday, and its eve, on a Saturday. The programme is not yet known.
The custom is repeated throughout the province: the Pelotero de Arquillos, the candelas de Arjonilla, the fogatas de Bedmar, the hogueras de Rus or the lumbres de Cabra del Santo Cristo, where rosetas and products of the matanza are eaten around the fire.
In What's On: La niña de la jungla · 22 de December
In What's On: XXX Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza (FeMAUB) · from 21 de November to 8 de December
Shall we let you know what matters?