Albalate de Zorita is a municipality located in the

province of Guadalajara Guadalajara () is a province of Spain, belonging to the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. As of 2013 it had a population of 257,723 people. The population of the province has grown in the last 10 years. It is located in the centre of ...

, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2015

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

(

INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

), the municipality has a population of 1022 inhabitants. History: Albalate is named as a village since the 11th century, while the Muslim occupation of Spain, then, after the Reconquest, it figures in the Diaries of Philip II, in the 17th century. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

it was in the Republican side of Spain, and after the war, many inhabitants were killed Traditions: The main festival is in honor of the Holy Cross, or ``Cruz del Perro´´ as they call it there, which is a cross dated in the 13th century, discovered by two farmers in a near place near the village, on September, 27th, 1514, since then, it is the patron of the village. For the festival, they have bullfighting, fireworks, two parades (one the Sunday before 27 September, which is a pilgrimage to where it was discovered, and another one, one or two days before the day) and also the religious celebrations, a mass, and a procession with the image. Another festival is for

Saint Blaise Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...

, on February, 3rd, in which many inhabitants dress up in red and yellow clothes and dance around the image of the saint during a 3-4 hour procession. In 1 May, a song called ``Mayos de la Virgen´´ is sung by the ones who are 18 years old that year. Monuments: The main monuments are the St Andreas´ Church, a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Church built in the 16th century, it is Gothic style, in hall type plan, with a Baroque altarpiece made by Juan Alonso Pedroso in 1701–1707. Also the Thirteen Pipe Fountain, from the 17th century, it is near the side street of the village. Politics: The Village is governed since 2015 by the Socialist Party of Spain (PSOE) with 5 counsellors out of 9, the mayor is Alberto Merchante Ballesteros since 18 November 2016, when the previous mayor, Dolores Ortega, resigned to the office. Albalate has been governed by the PSOE since 2003 elections.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Guadalajara {{CastileLaMancha-geo-stub