The matanza is the annual slaughter and butchery of the family pig, done over two or three days with the whole household and neighbours involved, producing the year's chorizo, morcilla, lomo and hams. In Extremadura — the dehesa country of acorn-fed Ibérico pigs — it remains a living practice as well as a demonstration, and the magosto fires roast chestnuts alongside.
No attendance figure is published.
The timing rule is worth stating because it is not a calendar one: the matanza begins when the weather turns reliably cold, since the meat is cured in open air. A warm November delays it. Village events are announced locally and shortly in advance.
Visitors should know what they are attending: this is a butchery, conducted openly, and the demonstrations do not soften it.
PlanningA November window set village by village; the matanza follows the first cold weather, not a date.