This work is about the secular significance of religious expression in Spain. It is also primarily an ethnographic study of several aspects of everyday life in a Spanish town in 1981. There are four main aims: to explain the relationship between local customs and beliefs and nationally sanctioned symbol systems - in particular, but among others, the relationship between the 750 year old cult of the Cross of Caravaca and the Catholic Church and Spanish State; to describe the unique behaviour of the Fiesta of the Caballos del Vino, and to give an account of one instance of the popular Moors and Christians Fiesta; to describe and analyse the social structure of a provincial town; and to show how important symbols are affected by social change. The thesis is divided into five parts and a conclusion. The first part deals with the geographical setting and the relationship of this study of Caravaca to other anthropological studies undertaken in Spain. The second is concerned with the details of everyday life. It shows the relationship between town and countryside and between everyday economic and political concerns and everyday religious activities. The third part includes a description of the largest and most influential institution in the town - the Cofradia —- and a discussion of religious devotion and the cult of the Cross of Caravaca. The fourth, a description of the Fiestas held in honour of the Cross of Caravaca, and especially the Jubilee year of the 750th anniversary of the apparition of the Cross, the pageant of Moors and Christians, and the unique 'Horses of the Wine 1 competition, provides a contrast with more mundane activities. In the fifth part an examination of the Fiesta symbols contains a discussion of festival behaviour in relation to the everyday life of the town, and changes that have taken place and continue to take place. These sections are followed by a brief conclusion.

En esta tesis se hace un estudio de las élites de poder en Caravaca durante la Segunda Mitad del Siglo XVIII, tanto a nivel familiar, como a nivel de poder político y de la relación de este con su poder patrimonial. Se parte del análisis de las principales familias que configuran el poder local, y a partir de él, se procede a establecer los lazos de parentesco y matrimonios que se dan entre dichas élites. Pero el centro de la tesis lo constituye el estudio de los comerciantes desde dos vertientes: La primera como instrumento económico que va a favorecer el tráfico y comercio de la zona introduciéndola en las principales rutas interiores del comercio de la lana, mientras que la segunda vertiente hace referencia, a su influencia como poder político, a su introducción paulatina en los cargos del concejo y la ocupación de los puestos de mayor relevancia. / This thesis is intended as a study of power elites in Caravaca during the second half of the 18th century from the perspective of the families involved and the relationship between their political and patrimonial powers. The main families that shaped local power have been analysed and the bonds and marriages between their members have been brought to light. The core of the thesis, however, is the study of local merchants from a double perspective: (i) their role as economic agents that encouraged traffic and commerce in the area by introducing it in the main inland routes of wool trade; and (ii) the gradual increase of their political power, as shown by the fact that they tended to hold the most relevant posts in the local council.