Spanish cursed village becomes major tourist attraction

Monday, August 23, 2021

The village of Trasmoz is tucked into the foothills of northern Spain. This tiny place attracts thousands of tourists every year. The main attraction to this place is not its half-ruined castle nor stunning mountain backdrop for many but a curious quirk of history: Trasmoz is the only excommunicated and cursed village in Spain.

“So far, being excommunicated and cursed hasn’t been bad for us,” said Lola Ruiz Diaz, one of the 47 or so people who live all year round in Trasmoz, some 50 miles north-west of Zaragoza. “It’s turned out to be a point in our favour.”
In the village, 6,000 tourists are seen in July for its witchcraft festival and discover its sorcery museum and taking in reenactments of the curse being cast over the village. A handful of villagers might have ever expected that Trasmoz’s singular status to become a major tourist draw. However two decades back, after locals began reclaiming the tales that had shifted and shaped Trasmoz in all these years, a constant rise in the numbers of fascinated visitors began turning up.

The unconventional past of this village goes back to a series of squabbles that started more than 700 years ago. At the time, Trasmoz was a wealthy community of Christians, Jews and Arabs with a powerful adversary: the neighboring monastery of Veruela.

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