Most books, articles and documentaries existing about verdiales simply talk about the music itself as it is nowadays and the elements that conform the tradition. However, when it comes to the history, it is all speculation. Except for one book that has been a great help for this research to clarify and know a possible real antecedent of verdiales: 'La fiesta de verdiales: una aproximación a sus orígenes' written by José Manuel Molina in 2010 after several years of research. This chapter, therefore, is basically based on this book and some other sources in which certain information is contrasted, as it is the most reliable source published after checking and comparing to others. 

It is often said that verdiales come from ancient cultures, but how old are these cultures exactly? To really understand the roots and elements of this music it is necessary to go all the way back to the Hittites.

The Hittites are an Anatolian civilisation that emerged around 2000 BC and gained prominence and power from 1300 BC onwards. They were good warriors, although they did not fight during the winter because of the value they placed on the celebration of the winter solstice and other winter festivals1. Their main worship was to the Sun God. According to Sedat Alp (2000)2, music and dance were very important in Hittite traditions. There was music in rites, royal ceremonies, celebrations, funerals and so on. There are some remains of instruments from this period that are exactly like cymbals and tambourines of the kind used in verdiales. Although there is no evidence that the Hittites passed through Spain, they will be an important influence on the civilisation of ancient Greece, who will be a great influence on all the peoples of the Mediterranean. As Bengtson says: 'Ancient Greek music owes great influences to the civilisations of Asia Minor'3.

Before the Greeks, a couple of civilisations came to Spain: the Iberians and the Tartessians. Both cultures celebrated the winter solstice and practised sun worship and furthermore, their most important god was similar to the later Saturn or Cybele, dedicated to agriculture, the mountains and fertility.
The Greeks used to celebrate the winter solstice as well, considered the time when the sun was reborn4. They celebrated the cult of Dionysus at the end of the year by dancing, singing and drinking. Some of the elements in these festivities were very similar to some of the current ones in verdiales such as some instruments (the tambourine), the use of flower hats5 and, most importantly, the relationship to the solar cycle which determines the key dates for celebrations6. 

The Romans, later on, will have very similar traditions due to the great influence they had from the Greeks. Instead of Dionysus, the God dedicated to agriculture is now called Saturn. The celebrations, called 'Saturnalias', used to take place in December too. To be precise, it was celebrated on December 17th according to the Julian calendar, to which if we add 11 days to obtain the Gregorian calendar, it would be December 28th, just the day on which the biggest and most relevant verdiales festival of the year is currently celebrated. It could be a coincidence, but what is quite clear is that various Mediterranean cultures from Ancient Greece and Asia Minor share the importance of sun worship and the winter solstice.

A few years ago, the discovery of a mosaic in Pompeii revolutionised the world of verdiales. Even though it was found several years ago, someone recently realised that it was the graphic proof of all the hypotheses explained above about the similarities between the different Mediterranean cultures.

This mosaic is on display in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples  under the title 'Wandering musicians worshipping Cybele'. It was made by Dioskourides of Samus between 110-100 BC, although it is inspired by a painting from the 3rd century BC. The mosaic shows a festive, rural atmosphere in which music is being played. There is a flute, a tambourine and cymbals, in addition to people wearing colourful clothes and something similar to a hat with flowers and ribbons. In short, the attitude of the characters and the atmosphere are reminiscent of verdiales, even if the instruments are not exactly the same. 

In addition to the great variety of instruments it generated, the Arabs left behind new musical genres such as the 'jarcha', the 'moaxaja' or the 'zéjel'. Cosidered the oldest testimony of popular lyrical poetry in the country, it could deal with different themes such as love or even themes related to the daily life in the village.7

These genres and instruments such as the lute, the tambourine, the violin or the rebec, among others, would continue to be used in the Christian Middle Ages, in addition to other instruments such as the organ.
With the Reconquest, led by the Crown, the Church and the Inquisition, Moors and mixed-race were persecuted as well as their religious and popular traditions, including Andalusian music. They had to run away unless they gave up their religion and converted to Catholicism. Although there was great resistance at first, they gradually had to leave. The final expulsion took place around the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. A great part of the Arab population fled to the mountains and remote inland areas. Coincidentally or not, some of the areas where the Moors were concentrated in the province of Málaga coincide with the key areas of verdiales, areas that were geographically isolated and difficult to access, especially in those times. All of this also helped to ensure that the music that emerged from this cultural mix never disappeared.

Although we are close to the time when it is known with certainty that verdiales already existed, there are testimonies of ancestors of present-day people from Málaga that talk about other dances and music that are extinct nowadays. These dances are known as 'de cuenta' and 'de cascabel' (rattle) dances. The former is much more formal and scholastic and the latter is more informal, typical of more rural celebrations. These traditions were common between the 18th and early 20th centuries, although by now it is not so common and practically unknown. In the case of the 'rattle dance', it is already mentioned and known during the 16th century with influences from the Moorish fiestas and zambras. I have been able to corroborate from my grandmother's testimony8 that she did not know these dances, just as my mother did not hear of them from her mother or grandmother either9. However, these dances should be taken into account as they lived together with verdiales and probably influenced each other.
Other dances and celebrations that coexisted with verdiales and have now become extinct are the dances 'de ánimas' and 'de candil'. These even used to be held on the same dates as verdiales, so people who gathered for these celebrations probably combined the different music and dances.

After the Romans, around the 3rd - 4th century AD, history begins to get darker: the so-called High Middle Ages. The growing prominence of the Church meant that any pagan or popular traditions would be banned. However, people never quite followed these new rules, especially when it came to music in rural areas. The Church tried everything to put and end to these traditions through sermons, lectures, even Councils; but people were reluctant to change their traditions10. In the end, the Church had to Christianise these pagan celebrations and make them its own in order to avoid the continued fight against the people. The key dates for verdiales are good examples of this 'conversions'. In December, when the winter solstice used to be celebrated, Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ) is now celebrated. In Spain, the Christian religion dates the celebration of St. John in the summer soltice; however, what people really celebrate is that it is the longest day of the year by making bonfires and making wishes. 

After this dark period in which the ancient traditions survived despite all the obstacles, a new culture arrived in Spain to stay for almost eight centuries (from the 9th to the 15th century AD): the Arabs. They conquered the whole of Spain and organised themselves into fortifications and forts called 'hsin'. Some villages in Malaga were important hsin: Jotrón, Santo Pitar, Comares or Sedella; some of them also important places for verdiales tradition. Musically, they had influences from Greece and Rome, Persia, Syria and India, giving rise to a very rich music; ironically, their religion also put barriers when it came to music.

What happened in Spain with Arabic music was magical. The two cultures merged and drew influences from each other. The fusion was so great that the Arabs themselves who came to visit Spain were unable to recognise their own music in this new mixture. As Abangalib said: 'It is very difficult to change the nature of a people, and the Spanish people are musicians'11. 

This merger of cultures would later be called 'Andalusian culture'. It was despised to some extent by both cultures, always for religious reasons. The Moorish gatherings resulting from the mixing of cultures in which they sang, danced and had fun were known as 'zambras', word that also designates the group of musicians who play at these festivities. 
Many new instruments came up in the Andalusian culture. Some of them were brought by the Arabs, others were from foreign cultures such as the Persians, and others were already in Spain. Some of these instruments are: lute, 'carrizo' (type of flute), 'kanun' (type of harp), 'quenira' (type of zither), guitar, 'zolami' (type of oboe), 'rabeb' (rebec), or 'tombour' (percussion), among many others.

There is no doubt that this cultural mix created a more lively and musical people. There is a testimony of a traveller from the year 1015 in Málaga: 'I was in Malaga, a Spanish city, in the year 406 of the Hériga and I was ill there for a long time [...]. It was at nightfall that I felt my sleeplessness the most: around my house I could hear the incessant beating of lute strings, tomboures and lyres everywhere; I could also hear many songs being sung in a confused mixture. [...] I would have liked to find a room or a house where these noises could not be heard, but it was extremely difficult to find one in Malaga, because the people of this land are dominated by this tradition'12.