The Choir and Dance Group announcers of the 2023 Fair and Festivals

The Brotherhood of San Bartolomé Apóstol has announced the appointment of the town crier for the 2023 Fair and Festivals through a press release.

The "Francisco Salzillo" Choir and Dance Group from Cieza has been chosen by the Brotherhood of San Bartolomé Apóstol to announce this year's patron saint festivities.

The Choirs and Dances of Cieza were founded in 1942. Since then, the group has continuously collected, researched, and disseminated the wide and varied folklore of its region. It has been a member of the Federation of Choir and Dance Associations of Spain (FACYDE) since 1990 and one of the founders of the Francisco Salzillo Regional Association of Murcia, created in 1977. It is also the organizer of the International Folklore Festival in Segura de Cieza (CIOFF Festival), which has been held continuously since 1989.

She has been in charge of running the Cieza Municipal Folklore School since its founding in 1989, which has enrolled more than 7,500 students ranging in age from 3 to an indeterminate age. This is a forum where students learn to love local traditions and customs through music, song, dance, and traditional clothing. Travels and performances around the world, countless awards, a private audience granted by Pope John Paul II, an extensive discography and appearances on television programs, as well as invaluable ethnological research to revive traditional dances and costumes, all mark a historic and outstanding year for the Association, following the celebration of its 80th anniversary in 2022 and its most recent recognition with the awarding of the Murcia Region Gold Medal on June 9 by the Governing Council of the Autonomous Community.

The Brotherhood of San Bartolomé, together with the Cieza City Council, wanted to "recognize the work of maintaining, collecting, researching, and disseminating the broad and varied folklore of Cieza, which has become a key figure in the culture and heritage of our town." They also wanted to highlight "the importance of this work throughout the group's eighty-year history."

For all these reasons, with its connection to Cieza and the Brotherhood of San Bartolomé, and for its work in maintaining the traditions and customs of a town, the Brotherhood has requested that the "Francisco Salzillo" Choir and Dance Group of Cieza announce the Fair and Festivities in honor of San Bartolomé 2023.

Finally, the Brotherhood of San Bartolomé Apóstol wanted to express its gratitude to its president, Jesús Saorín, its board of directors, and the members of its group "for their treatment, willingness, and gratitude toward the Brotherhood and the appointment."

Click on the video and subscribe to watch the 2017 procession of our patron saint, Saint Bartholomew.