The village of Raspay in Yecla
A small rural community in the south of Yecla favoured by residents from northern Europe
Raspay is a small village on the Yecla side of the boundary between the Region of Murcia and the province of Alicante, with an official population in 2022 of just 121. However, this represents an increase over the last few years, due principally to northern Europeans settling in the mountainous countryside just an hour’s drive from the city of Alicante and the Mediterranean coast.
The village lies in the foothills of the Sierra de las Pansas, one of the areas of the Sierra del Carche, 23 kilometres south of Yecla, a similar distance east of Jumilla and 70 kilometres north of Murcia. Among the sites of interest in the nearby countryside are the cave of La Zurriera, a cave used as a hideout by bandit Jaime el Barbudo 200 years ago and the Fuente de las Pansas.
The locals in this part of Spain speak both standard Castilian Spanish and Valenciano (in which the village is called Raspai), due to an influx of migrating farmers from the east in the 19th century.
The first records of the village date back to 1855, when the first priest was Antonio Ibáñez Galiano, and in the second half of the 20th century the population declined before the arrival of foreign residents after 2014.
Fiestas
The local fiestas are held every year in late June and/or early July in honour of the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and the Dulce Corazón de María. A procession takes place on the Sunday of the patrons and the three days are filled with music, games, conviviality and plenty to eat as the population of the village temporarily trebles due to visitors!
In 2023 so great was the interest in the fiestas among northern European residents and visitors that the programme was published in English, suggesting the emergence of a trilingual community!
If visiting Yecla don’t forget to make sure one of your first ports of call is the tourist office (Plaza Mayor, 1, telephone 968 754104, email turismo@yecla.es).
For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Yecla Today.