CUARESMERA 2021

The Museum of Commerce offers visitors who come to its halls, starting Wednesday, February 17, a cut-out drawing of a Cuaresmera, a symbolic representation that was hung in shops and homes to count the passing of the seven weeks of the Lenten period.

The Cuaresmera was traditionally hung in a house window on Ash Wednesday, and a leg was torn off each Sunday of Lent. On Easter Sunday, it was sawn or burned with its last remaining leg, and this joyful day was celebrated with a succulent meal where meat, in the form of lamb, cured meats, or hornazo, made its reappearance.

The Cuaresmera was also displayed in the windows of shops and grocery stores to announce the sale of salted cod, a staple during the Lenten fasting period, as it was the only fish that reached Castile – preserved in salt – and could be prepared in a wide variety of ways.