Moors and Christians Festival in Spain
These festivities have the particularity of being held twice a year, from April 22 to 25 and the first weekend of September . It is on this last date that the transfer of the relic of Sant Jordi from Rome to the town in 1780 is commemorated. Declared of National Tourist Interest.
Its liturgical festival is January 17, around which the Fiesta is celebrated until 1946 and currently the so-called Media Fiesta.
The Moors and Christians (in Valencian Moros i Cristians) are a popular Spanish festivity that is celebrated mainly in the south of the Valencian Community and other areas of southeastern Spain.
The Alcoy Moors and Christians festival is scheduled on the following dates:
- from Friday 21 to Monday 24 April 2023
- from Friday 19 to Monday 22 April 2024
The so-called "Moors and Christians" are festivals that are celebrated in many of the cities and towns of the Southeast of Spain; those with the greatest repercussion due to age, beauty and pageantry are those of Alcoy (Alicante-Valencian Community), declared of International Tourist Interest.
These festivities recreate the clashes between Christian and Muslim troops in the 13th century for control of the Iberian Peninsula. Those held in coastal cities commemorate the fight against the Barbary pirates.
Origin
They have a religious origin as they are celebrated in honor of Saint George, patron saint of the city, with a spectacular festive performance in commemoration of the Reconquest.
It goes back to the legend of a battle that took place in 1276 in Alcoy, pitting the Christians against the troops of a Muslim leader. Thanks to the sudden appearance of Saint George and despite the superiority of the Arab troops, they were expelled and the Christians won the battle.
As recognition, the inhabitants of Alcoy (Alcoyanos) named him patron of the city and promised to celebrate a festival in his honor.
Celebration
The streets of Alcoy are filled with people, visitors and neighbors, who occupy the streets, balconies, expectant before a magnificent spectacle that recreates the Middle Ages in a luxuriously decorated city.
The celebrations begin with the musical bands singing their hymns: pasodobles, Moorish marches and Christian marches. In the morning the Christian troops parade into the city followed by the Moorish troops in the afternoon.
With majestic bearing, richly traversed with clothes from the Medieval era, the spectacular parades of the Moorish and Christian sides begin; to the sound of music, with sumptuous costumes, floats, horses, elephants, dromedaries.
After this display of luxuriously dressed people and animals, a day is dedicated to the Patron Saint, Saint George, with religious ceremonies and the traditional procession. On the last day of these spectacular and lavish festivities, both sides send their "embassies" (emissaries). Each side sends an emissary who in a threatening tone demands the other's surrender; unsuccessfully.
The final battle begins. A combat wrapped in the smell of gunpowder due to the thousands of shots from muskets, blunderbuss and arquebuses (weapons of the time). The battle ends with the appearance of Saint George on horseback, to free the city from the Arab siege. The Muslim leader dies and miraculously the victory is for the Christians.
With this more than spectacular and lavish representation and the hymn "Fiesta", the city of Alcoy announces the end of the festivities and the beginning of spring.