Fiesta Week

We missed many of the town festivals, as we were away in Germany at the beginning of September. However, on our return, we discovered that one of the biggest had been rained off. We then got the opportunity to witness the re-scheduled “Storming of the Castle”.

In essence, this area of Spain, (and further south) has very strong historic links to the Moors (North Africans). There were many battles throughout the regions some 6 or 7 centuries ago, and these are still re-enacted every year. The annual Moors and Christians celebrations are the main event in most towns.

Many parades take place, leading up to the main Parade of the Moors and Christians (which we missed) which takes up to 5 hours to pass through the high street. The costumes are incredible. Many troupes prefer to be Moors, as their costumes are more colourful, even though it was the Christians that won in the end.

And some point, there is the re-enactment of the Storming of the Castle. The Moors are in the castle and a horseman from the Christians delivers a message, calling on them to surrender. The king of the moors symbolically rips up the message, and the rider returns. The army of Christians gathers, and then the king of the Christians calls on the Moors to concede. This is actually a recognised speech, to which the Moors occasionally respond. Although I couldn’t follow much of it, it quickly became apparent that it was in verse. Very impressive. Toward the end of the speech, the altercation becomes louder and more aggressive, and then battle commences. It was all very theatrical, and wonderful to watch. The armies let loose with blunderbusses, and the square was soon filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. The buildings shook with each explosion, and my ears were ringing. (At one point, some spilled powder caught fire on the road, but there was a man there with a hosepipe, who put the fire out, and washed the spillage away.