This Sunday, 5 October, Lekunberri reaches the twentieth edition of its Sagardo Eguna (Cider Day), and once again it does so alongside the town’s mushroom day, now in its twelfth edition. The two events share the morning and the setting: the cider and the fair stalls will be set up in the herriko plaza (the town square), and the display of fungi and mushrooms a few metres away, in the trinkete (the covered pelota court).

The cider day is organised jointly by Lekunberri Town Council and the Asociación de Productores de Sidra de Navarra (Navarre Cider Producers’ Association). According to the press release issued to present the day, the immediate surroundings, between Lekunberri and the Larraun valley, have four cider houses, most of them with cider of their own making, and they are joined by houses from other parts of Navarre.

Five cider houses and a 5-euro glass

Five houses are due to serve cider: Martitxonea, from Aldatz; Larraldea, from Lekaroz; Lindurren Borda, from Lesaka; Toki Alai, from Lekunberri; and Perkatzenea, from Madotz. The tasting keeps the formula of recent years: you buy a glass for 5 euros, which comes with five txartelas (tokens) and, with them, the chance to try five different ciders.

To go with it there will be talos (maize flatbreads) of various kinds (with txistorra sausage, bacon or cheese), Idiazabal cheese and local goat’s cheese, and artisan bread from Lekunberri. The fair, with these and other craft stalls, will open at 11.00. At the same time, a selection of the apple varieties most commonly used in cider making will be on display in the square.

At 12.00 comes one of the most eagerly awaited moments: the re-enactment of the kirikoketa. Four barefoot people, armed with large wooden mallets, rhythmically strike boards loaded with apples, as was done in the cider mills when the crushing of the fruit was finished. The end of that task was celebrated with a game of alternating, improvised blows that the organisers liken to the txalaparta.

Mushrooms in the trinkete

The mushroom day is run by the Asociación de Micología de Alsasua and the local mountaineering group Ttutturre, with the collaboration of Arbeondo, a Lekunberri family business making deep-frozen foods that has a wide range of mushroom products. The day before, Saturday 4 from 12.00, anyone who wishes can bring the mushrooms and fungi they have gathered to the trinkete; once identified, they will become part of the exhibition, open on Sunday from 10.30 to 14.00.

At the end of the morning the programme includes a tasting of mushroom pintxos, which can be accompanied by the cider from the square. For afterwards, the press release suggests a walk along the Plazaola greenway.

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