AVELLANOSA DE MUÑÓ, Spain — Most days are quiet in Avellanosa de Muñó, a small village in the northern Burgos province of Spain that has only a handful of full-time residents.

There are no restaurants or shops in the village. The old pub is no more, and the winery has gone out of business. The sounds that make up every day are the bees buzzing around lavender, the swallows swooping over stone roofs and the odd tractor crossing the farmland nearby. A bakery van delivers bread to residents once a week.

For decades the community has reflected a broader trend of rural depopulation in Spain.

For generations, the community relied on dryland farming, vineyards, vegetable gardens and livestock. As agriculture became increasingly mechanised and job opportunities dwindled, many residents moved to larger cities such as Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona.

Grazing livestock outnumber permanent residents today, and sunflower fields cover land that once supported a much larger farming community.

The village lies in the path of the 2026 total solar eclipse and will briefly break routine this summer as former residents, relatives and visitors from Spain and abroad come.

The eclipse will make it seem like “two nights” in one evening, as daylight fades into darkness during totality before returning briefly before sunset.

Grande, a former resident, is planning to return with his partner, children, grandchildren and friends, bringing about 20 people – roughly doubling the village’s usual population. Other families will be happy to welcome relatives and visitors from all over Spain, as well as from the United Kingdom, France and Venezuela.

Rare events such as a total solar eclipse can motivate people to reconnect with places that form part of their personal or family history, says Dr Lucrezia López, professor of geography at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

Grande even organised accommodation for a family from California by asking neighbours if they could host visitors, believing the village was one of the best locations in Spain to see the eclipse.

Public viewing areas for the event are being set up in municipalities of the province of Burgos. Locals and visitors in Avellanosa de Muñó will meet in the caves looking out over the village.

At the time of totality the sun will be only eight degrees above the western horizon, so a clear view should provide excellent viewing conditions. The caves are also culturally significant to local families who have long gathered there to watch the sunset. One former resident decided to have his ashes scattered there.

For many families, the eclipse is about more than astronomy.

Some never left the village; others have returned every summer for decades. Parents now bring children and grandchildren hoping to keep family links to the community even as its population declines.

The silence of the village is expected to be disturbed by the conversations of the arriving visitors. Families are planning to eat outdoors with children playing in streets that used to serve a much larger community.

A few minutes before sunset, darkness will fall during the eclipse, creating a rare celestial spectacle that is expected to put one of Spain's smallest villages at the centre of international attention.