El Ministry of Culture and Sports initiated the registration process in the general catalog of the historic heritage of Andalusia (CGPHA), as well as of cultural interest (BIC), with the typology of the ethnological interest activity, Cantos de Aurora de Priego de Córdoba, An oral and musical manifestation of popular nature with extraordinary literary, musical, and historical identity values. What is it? An intangible expression of popular religiosity and a living heritage.
The dawn songs are a musical tradition maintained by the Aurora brothers, known as «Auroros de Priego», belonging to the venerable brotherhood of the Virgin Mary of Aurora and San Nicasio, who every Saturday night travel through different streets of the city singing songs to the Virgin of Aurora. They also participate in the procession in honor of the Virgin of Aurora, which takes place on the second Sunday of September.
This group, composed of approximately twenty Campanilleros brothers, are renowned for their songs of collective devotion in a parish setting, dedicated to the Virgin and performed by a Rondalla with bell instruments. Hence, the band of bands is called Campanilleros. In Priego, there is a registry of over 300 documents, of great literary quality and composed by various authors, many of them anonymous between the 17th and 20th centuries.
Most of these songs praise and pray to the Virgin at dawn, but the themes can also refer to theological, moral, or liturgical concepts (Christmas, passion, Eucharist), human issues (such as family, illness, or death), saints, devotions, hell and demon, atmospheric phenomena, and strictly local popular events.
From a musical perspective, the «Auroros» song of Priego holds exceptional value as a testimony of the melodic variations of the ancient rosary songs, rooted in the 17th century. The sung song is composed of four vocal melodic phrases.
These songs, which will be protected under the figure of Good Cultural Interest – the highest form of heritage protection – are one of the main elements of collective identification in Priego, regardless of the symbolic identifications that unite the population, especially in devotions.
The Aurora brothers of Priego are one of the most important bell-ringing groups in the province of Córdoba, a testimony to the tradition of the ancient public rosaries that emerged in the 17th century, spread throughout the Andalusian geography. This display of popular religiosity is deeply rooted in the southern province of Córdoba, where groups of bell-ringers still survive, singing the rosary songs or the dawn rosary.
As movable property related to this activity, those directly involved in the practices of the Aurora brothers will be protected in their ritual contexts, especially during the Saturday rounds and the festivities of the Virgin. Therefore, the objects will be protected for their symbolic and utilitarian value, such as the Size of the Virgin of Aurora by José de Mora from 1706, the collection of brotherhood lanterns, and the collection of tools.