Fiestas Populares de Labor, desarrollo rural sostenible y regiones saludables

The aim of this paper on rural popular festivals related to farming, livestock, fishing, and general trades, is to show the role that these festivities have in sustainable rural development and the connection with the notion of healthy regions. This approach is based on two elements; first, on the integral vision of health of the World Health Organization set out in the 1986 Ottawa Charter. This implies the integration of social structures (including the cultural identity dimension), economic profitability and the sustainable natural environment. Second, the concept of healthy regions of the European Commission’s used in Healthy Regions Program emphasizes the need to relate health with regional development, instead of separating them. The literature review and the analysis of rural festivities show that this type of festivities promote the three dimensions of health: biological, psychosocial, and economic in the territories. Without the last one, the population reduces their possibility of access to resources and fundamental rights that are determinant. This loss is reflected in a decrease in the population that jeopardize the rural sustainable develop for the future.