According to what has been outlined so far, under the section entitled Origins, we can deduce that from the time when the image appeared behind the temple walls, which currently corresponds to the Convent of Mercy, a compelling link between both characters is forged and the festivity as we know it today began to be celebrated, with the natural developments that our society has undergone. It can be established, therefore, that its antiquity dates back not much later than 1490.

The aldermen of the town requested the Catholic Kings the granting of a fair, a request that was refused according to the Royal Warrant dated 31 July 1493 in Barcelona, in which it stipulates that others from the Kingdom of Granada required study.

After a further request made by the friars of the Convent of Mercy in 1580, the Town Council cooperating in this petition, eventually it was granted in the reign of Philip II indicating as the dates for its celebration between 8 and 15 September.

It would appear that the festivity rapidly reached great importance and thus in 1594 it was held in Mercy Square, so that it would be more ostentatious and would promote worship of the Virgin; and three years later the Mercedarian friars earned a Royal Provision by which it would continue to be celebrated there. Local and outside traders were granted a franchise of rights for them to set up there, paying less and shops in other streets were not even allowed to open, a situation which prevailed until 1847, when the Council of Castile authorized the opening of all the shops.

The visit that the "collector" Miguel de Cervantes made on 9 September 1594 must be mentioned, sent by the official paymaster of Seville, Agustín de Cetina, in order to collect the arrears levies and sales tax owed to the Royal exchequer. All the researchers agree on the fact that when Cervantes was coming from Guadix, he met, on the only road that existed, the retinue on their return to the town. A cultured and inquisitive man, it is not surprising that he should ask what the purpose of such a luxurious retinue was and should include it in Chapter XI, of the second part of his immortal work The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote, in the figure of a dancing demon that was part of the Waggon of the Courts of Death and that wielding a stick from which bladders hung, instilled fear into the Knight errant and his faithful Squire.

In the work referred to it reads:

"   Whilst engaged in this disquisition, as luck would have it one of the company turned up, dressed as a buffoon, with divers little bells, and on the end of a stick had three inflated cow's bladders; this clown, approaching Don Quixote, began to wield the stick and to beat the ground with the bladders, and to leap high into the air, making the little bells jingle."

"   On my honour as a Knight errant, retorted Don Quixote, just as I have seen this cart, methought that a grand adventure had presented itself, and now I say that we need touch the appearances with our hand to be undeceived. Go in peace, good people, and make your festivities, and see if you require me to be of service to you, I shall do so gladly nay willingly, because as a shaveling I was much given to drunkenness, and in my youth I craved after the strolling players".

The oldest documentary testimonies on the celebration of the feast day appear around the middle of the nineteenth century in documents and publications.

On the other hand the publications appearing in some local and provincial newspapers and magazines from the end of the nineteenth century testify to the existence of "Cascamorras". In them reference is made to the character, to his dress and to his mission.

It is noteworthy in this respect the item of news from the publication of a Novena in 1859 dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy in which a priest called Felipe Pedernal claimed to be a direct descendant of Juan Pedernal the labourer from Guadix who discovered the image of the Virgin.

There are photographs of "Cascamorras" from the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.

The lack of documentary evidence in the interval between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with reference to the character is justified by scholars because it was probably a festivity of simple folk or "plebs", too pagan and with little influence among the higher social classes of the epoch, who were the transcribers of the events of the time.

The aldermen of the town requested the Catholic Kings the granting of a fair, a request that was refused according to the Royal Warrant dated 31 July 1493 in Barcelona, in which it stipulates that others from the Kingdom of Granada required study.

After a further request made by the friars of the Convent of Mercy in 1580, the Town Council cooperating in this petition, eventually it was granted in the reign of Philip II indicating as the dates for its celebration between 8 and 15 September.

It would appear that the festivity rapidly reached great importance and thus in 1594 it was held in Mercy Square, so that it would be more ostentatious and would promote worship of the Virgin; and three years later the Mercedarian friars earned a Royal Provision by which it would continue to be celebrated there. Local and outside traders were granted a franchise of rights for them to set up there, paying less and shops in other streets were not even allowed to open, a situation which prevailed until 1847, when the Council of Castile authorized the opening of all the shops.

The visit that the "collector" Miguel de Cervantes made on 9 September 1594 must be mentioned, sent by the former accountant of Seville, Agustín de Cetina, in order to collect the arrears levies and sales tax owed to the Royal exchequer. All the researchers agree on the fact that when Cervantes was coming from Guadix, he met, on the only road that existed, the retinue on their return to the town. A cultured and inquisitive man, it is not surprising that he should ask what the purpose of such a luxurious retinue was and should include it in Chapter XI, of the second part of his immortal work The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote, in the figure of a dancing demon that was part of the Waggon of the Courts of Death and that, wielding a stick from which bladders hung, instilled fear into the Knight errant and his faithful Squire.

In the work referred to it reads:

"Whilst engaged in this disquisition, as luck would have it one of the company turned up, dressed as a buffoon, with divers little bells, and on the end of a stick had three inflated cow's bladders; this clown, approaching Don Quixote, began to wield the stick and to beat the ground with the bladders, and to leap high into the air, making the little bells jingle."

"On my honour as a Knight errant, retorted Don Quixote, just as I have seen this cart, me thought that a grand adventure had presented itself, and now I say that we need touch the appearances with our hand to be undeceived. Go with in peace, good people, and make your festivities, and see if you require me to be of service to you, I shall do so gladly nay willingly, because as a shaveling I was much given to drunkenness, and in my youth I craved after the strolling players".

The oldest documentary testimonies on the celebration of the feast day appear around the middle of the nineteenth century in documents and publications.

On the other hand the publications appearing in some local and provincial newspapers and magazines from the end of the nineteenth century testify to the existence of "Cascamorras". In them reference is made to the character, to his dress and to his mission.

It is noteworthy in this respect the item of news from the publication of a Novena in 1859 dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy in which a priest called Felipe Pedernal claimed to be a direct descendant of Juan Pedernal the labourer from Guadix who discovered the image of the Virgin.

There are photographs of "Cascamorras" from the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.

The lack of documentary evidence in the interval between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with reference to the character is justified by scholars because it was probably a festivity of simple folk or "plebs", too pagan and with little influence among the higher social classes of the epoch, who were the transcribers of the events of the time.