Catch
a fabulous
festival.
FIESTA DETAILS:
Fiesta dates for
Denia and Valencia (all dates are approximate)
JANUARY 5th
The Three Kings is a Christmas celebration.
On the actual Chirstmas Day not much happens
in Spain - a family meal with friends
and a few small gifts of money. But all
the presents for Kids are brought by the
Three Kings on 5th of January. In this
country, Santa has to share the market
with Them. And They dont sneak around
in chimneys, They gracefully enter the
city and create a revolution.
To see:
- a spectacular
carnival of the Kings' entry
- the city taken
over by children
- nightlife till
dawn
- large Xmas market
at night
Christmas Fiesta
for children Three Kings in Valencia,
Spain. At about 5 o'clock the Kings' ships
dock at the port. To the screams of the
crowd the King's rapid assault force moves
through the city on foot, under a police
escort, throwing sweets and toys to kids.
At the same time, the army of kids take
control of the city around a spectacular
carnival in the centre - endless circuses,
guards, floats parade through the streets.
You will be heavily bombarded by sweets
and toys flying off those floats, and
you have never seen so many children sreaming
of joy.
About 2-3 hours
later the city surrenders completely and
the Kings enter Plaza de Ayntamento in
full convoy - guards, dancers, torches,
chests of presents solemnly carried by
King's servants. All that in a whole spectacle
of colours, costumes and props. The army
of chidren goes wild.
Finally, the Kings come out onto the City
Hall's balcony and address the nation
of thousands of children below them.
- You shall be good kids!
The crowd goes wild.
- You shall tidy your rooms!
The crowd is in frenzy.
- You shall eat vegetables!
The Revolution has happened.
Christmas Fiesta for children Three Kings
in Valencia, Spain See pictures
Christmas Fiesta
for children Three Kings in Valencia,
SpainThen the Kings proceed to give out
free presents inside the City Hall. But
you do have to queue a lot.
On these days all
families finally exchange presents which
were supposedly brought by the Kings.
As for adults...
the Spanish need little excuse to party.
And this is a BIG excuse. Plus the next
day is, of course, a day off. Take your
pick in the city at night, there will
be "Los Reyes" special nights
in all nightlife venues and they will
end long after the sun is up.
The Three Kings
- Procession and presentation of presents
to the children.The biggest festival in
Valencia, Las Fallas occurs in March each
year and is a hectic and noisy week that
is full of fireworks and processions that
are in honour of Saint Joseph.
The Las Fallas fiesta
attracts in the region of 2 million people
each year who come to see the large paper
maiche caricature figures of both nation
and internationally famous people. These
large models can be as high as 4 metres
and there will always be at least a few
people that are immediately recognisable,
even to foreigners!
Strangely the highlight
of the entire festival is when the figures
are burnt. Not satisfied with just seeing
their months of hard work go up in flames
the locals also fill the figures with
dynamite and blow them into the warm March
air.
As you can imagine
this is an enormous fire risk for the
government of Valencia and each year there
are more than 250 firemen on standby throughout
the city to deal with any out of control
burning effigies.
At 2pm each day
you should head for the Cities main Plaza
(Plaza Ayuntimiento) where the various
districts of Valencia provide firework
displays and compete to provide not only
the best display but also the nosiest.
JANUARY 26th
Pilgrimage to the
hermitage of Saint Paula.
FEBRUARY - dates
vary, usually second week
Carnival - Floats,
processions, street entertainment, children's
activities, fireworks and dancing to live
music.
MARCH dates vary, usually 16th - 19th
FALLAS - The traditional
Valencian festival of Saint Joseph the
carpenter. Originally a contest amongst
carpenters to create an effigy of the
Saint, it has escalated to become one
of the most spectacular fiestas of the
calendar year, with municipal districts
competing for the prize for the best papier
mache monument. Each year the monuments
get bigger and better with more and more
money invested in creating incredible
50-100ft high Disney-type cartoon depictions
of both current event and political characters
together with fictional figures.Denia
usually has at least 6 of these figurines.
Hundreds of thousands
of Euros are spent each year in building
these monuments which are all burnt in
the final ceremonial act of the celebrations.
Festivities include, processions with
participants wearing elaborate traditional
costumes, street entertainment, fireworks
and live music. The largest fiesta of
this kind is held in the city of Valencia,
where up to 300 massive monuments block
the busy streets of the capital and commercial
life comes to a halt. Here a 150ft high
statue of the Virgen Mary is built out
of flowers brought by participants of
a day long procession through the city
streets. This is a fiesta you will never
forget.
APRIL 22nd, 23rd,
24th ALCOY
moors and christians
MAY - second Sunday
Nuestra Señora
de los Desamparados - Religious procession
in honour of the Virgin of the defenseless
persons. Fiestas in Jesus Pobre - small
village just outside Denia which include
dancing in the streets to live music and
bull-running (see below).
JUNE
Throughout the summer
there are many fiestas. The dates vary
but here are some of the main ones. Pilgrimage
in honour of the Virgin Rocio. Fiestas
in Santisima Trinidad Street. 20th - 24th
Bonfires of Saint John plus a pilgrimage
to the hermitage. 28th - 29th Fiestas
in San Pedro Street. Fiestas in La Pedrera
district.
JULY
Fiestas of the Holy
Blood - Floats, concerts, open-air music
festivals, fireworks - and also bull-running.
BULL-RUNNING The
famous bull running event is held in many
towns at different times of the year all
over Spain. Large, generally aggressive
bulls are let loose in designated streets
to chase after those who think they are
fast enough to jump out of their way,
run behind the many wooden barricades
or into the steel cages set up for their
protection, before they get gored. Not
for the faint hearted, and definitely
best left to those with more experience
as it is not as easy as it looks. The
bulls are very fast and many people -
usually foreigners - get hurt, and occasionally
killed each year due to them tripping
and falling before they manage to get
to safety. These bulls have large horns,
and will attack through fear. Hundreds
of people attend the events, sitting upon
makeshift platforms above the streets
or standing within the steel cages. It
can become rather noisy with everyone
shouting and jeering at the bulls who
naturally feel trapped and we all know
how a cornered wild animal reacts to this
kind of situation.
The bull-running
in Denia is held at the harbour where
there is a small half bullring. The people
try to touch the horns to give them good
luck for the rest of the year. They don't
throw the bulls in the sea, the bulls
chase them into the sea!
AUGUST 14th - 16th
Moors and Christians
Fiesta. - This festival is celebrated
all over Spain as their history is deeply
rooted in the battles which took place
over control of Spain in the 13th to 15th
century. Each fiesta is a theatrical performance
with participants dressed in elaborate
and expensive costumes depicting both
sides of the battle. The music played
by the live orchestras is especially composed
for the fiesta and is very dramatic. Battles
are re-enacted using replicas of the weapons
used so it can become very noisy. Fiesta
of San Agustin - Les Rotes area of Denia.
Last Wednesday in
AUGUST
The festival on
the last Wednesday of August is called
'the Tomatina' and is basically a town-wide
tomato fight. This is just over 1 hours
drive, from Denia, in Bunol, (just outside
of Valencia)
Every year around
30,00 people descend on the Spanish town
of Bunol (in the Valencia region of Spain)
to throw more than 245,000 pounds of tomatoes
at each other, the start and the end of
tomato throwing being announced with a
banger.
SEPTEMBER - dates vary, usually third
week
Fiestas in La Xara,
a small town just outside Denia. Festivities
include processions, dancing in the streets
and bull-running (see above).
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
- last week, first weekend respectively
Fiesta to celebrate
All Saints day. Festivities include fairground
attractions.
DECEMBER 13th
Pilgrimage to the
hermitage of Santa Lucia. Crafts fair
and stalls.
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