Cordon de san blas

schoolchildren have visited the church of santa maria to buy these chokers.

Some say that the tradition of wearing these cloth chokers comes from when in the past the parishioners went to mass to bless the food and herbs that protected from colds and coughs. The doughnuts were tied with ribbons or cords and, therefore, when blessing these sweets, their loops were also blessed.
As for the typical sweets of this day we can find from roscos, donuts or cakes to marshmallow candies; in Bilbao known as «Santiaguitos» because the famous confectioner Santiago Olavide of Correo Street was short in stature.
The custom of placing the cord around the neck comes from when people used to bless food and seeds to prevent colds. The cord they used was the one used to tie the homemade doughnuts whose ingredients had been blessed.

prayer of the cord of saint blaise

Tradition has it that getting rid of colds, tonsillitis and other throat ailments is as simple as wearing a cord blessed on San Blas around your neck for nine days. The trick seems to work, at least if you listen to the hundreds of people who flock to Bilbao’s San Nicolás church every February 3 to hear mass, buy the traditional doughnuts and marshmallow candies from the street stalls and get enough multicolored cords to protect the whole family.

blessing of the cords for san blas in the

In Bilbao they have a trick to prevent colds: wear a cord around your neck for San Blas. This saint is the patron saint who protects against tonsillitis, coughs and other throat ailments, or so it is said. Next to the church of San Nicolás, numerous stalls offer these traditional cords in all kinds of colors and combinations, which the parishioners then take inside the temple to be blessed, but in the surroundings of the church not only these traditional cords are sold, but also all kinds of typical sweets for the delight of the sweet tooth, a festivity in which, apart from faith, many are those who come to get a cord to ward off colds for the rest of the winter.

festivity of the candelaria and blessing of the san blas cordon

The cord of San Blas is a thin string of bright and varied colors that is blessed on the day of the saint (February 3) and is worn tied around the neck for a period of time to be finally burned. If this is done, it acquires supernatural qualities and becomes the perfect amulet to protect us from «all throat ailments», whatever they may be.
It is still somewhat adventurous but it would fit with Barandiaran’s notes that tell us that, in the Laudio of almost a century ago, «all kinds of metallic or thread necklaces are blessed in addition [to food for people and livestock and in reference to the necklaces]». Metallic…
On the contrary, practically all the necklaces in Laudio, Enkarterri, Okondo, Orozko, Amurrrio… are removed on Ash Wednesday -the most rigorous ones, at the beginning of that day, Tuesday night of Carnival- that is, the beginning of a period of penitence and recollection known as Lent. And, more than retiring, they are to be burned to remind us how ephemeral human existence is.