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Ejea de los Caballeros

Ejea de los Caballeros (Spanish)
Exeya d'os Caballers (Aragonese)
Church of the Saint Savior
Church of the Saint Savior
Coat of arms of Ejea de los Caballeros (Spanish)
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Ejea
Ejea de los Caballeros (Spanish) is located in Spain
Ejea de los Caballeros (Spanish)
Ejea de los Caballeros (Spanish)
Location in Spain
Coordinates: 42°7′45″N 1°8′14″W / 42.12917°N 1.13722°W / 42.12917; -1.13722
Country Spain
Autonomous community Aragón
Province Zaragoza
Comarca Cinco Villas
Villages Ejea de los Caballeros, Bardenas, El Bayo, El Sabinar, Farasdués, Pinsoro, Rivas, Santa Anastasia, Valareña
Government
 • Type Mayor-council
 • Body Ayuntamiento de Ejea de los Caballeros
 • Mayor Teresa Ladrero (PSOE)
Area
 • Total 609.92 km2 (235.49 sq mi)
Elevation 318 m (1,043 ft)
Population (2010)
 • Total 17,344
 • Density 28/km2 (74/sq mi)
Demonym(s) ejeano (m), ejeana (f)
Postal code 50600
Website www.ejea.es

Ejea de los Caballeros (pronounced: [eˈxea de los kaβaˈʎeɾos]); Aragonese: Exeya d'os Caballers; (commonly known simply as Ejea) is a town and municipality in the province of Zaragoza, part of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It is one of the five main towns in the Comarca de las Cinco Villas ("Shire of the Five Villages"). The five villages are Ejea de los Caballeros itself, Sos del Rey Católico, Uncastillo, Sádaba and Tauste.

They became part of the medieval Kingdom of Aragon in 1105 during the Spanish Reconquista, as Muslim rule in the region was falling back.

The town retains many medieval buildings, including:

The municipality of Ejea de los Caballeros comprises nine different centres of population:

Rivas and Farasdués are two historic villages that have been dependencies of Ejea for decades. The other six centres were built in the nineteen fifties and sixties in order to settle inhabitants and farmers to grow irrigation crops because of the building of Yesa reservoir and Bardenas irrigation channel that brought water to this villages, among others (Sádaba, Tauste and others).

The main local fiesta honours the Virgin of the Olive, the local saint. In June, it is also celebrated the patron saint, Saint John the Baptist, in a medieval way. Another local festival commemorates The Vote Day (January 14), an event during the Black Plague, when the townsfolk voted for the bringing of the Virgin of the Olive across the town to worship her. The plague is purported to have ended that day in Ejea de los Caballeros.


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