Of Fiestas and big hearted Brits

On Tuesday this week, the british community were invited to the Casa Cultura in Alfaz de Pi (a town of moorish origins) for an explanatory talk about the fiestas de Cristo de bien acierto which take place the 7th to 11th of november.

I made a special effort to go , by bus, as my car had been abandoned in a safe place , after torrential rain had turned the roads into rivers. About 35  people had turned up and we had a fascinating exposition of the various parts of the fiesta.. The religious roots of the festival were a bit hazy, but the traditions, the rituals, and the emotions surrounding the events were very evident. During the 5 days of celebrations there are fiesta queens and their entourages, who take part in various processions, there are penas, which are groups from social institutions, to family and friends groups, who celebrate together for the fiesta, processing, eating. drinking, and inviting everyone to join them.There is a specially elected angel who reads a poem to the statue of Christ, this is a very emotional moment.There are petanca( bow ls) competitions, pipe and drum bands, processions with flowers, processions with fancy dress, and fireworks. The day time fireworks are bangers. These may seem very noisy to foreigners, but to the spanish they are very emotional. In the evenings the firework displays are the best in the world. The fiesta celebrations continue with music and eating and further celebrations until 4 in the morning on several days.

There is a lot of cultural pride tied up in these celebrations. To be chosen as a queen, or one of her retinue, is a great honour, and families may even take out loans in order to purchase a dress suitable for the queen to wear on this occasion.There is a special crucifix which was donated by a priest a long, time ago. This crucifix is taken in procession every 25 years. Although the english struggled to comprehend the various aspects of the fiesta, there being nothing in British culture which encompasses religious tradition, and having a good time in such a natural way, it did appear that the fiesta in Alfaz contributed to a strong sense of community identity, and inclusiveness, where young and old were represented, and everyone celebrated. Traditional costumes were worn, traditional instruments played traditional music, time honoured rituals were observed.

The British newspaper on the costa blanca spearheaded a campaign called expats have big hearts, which raised 300,000 euros in 6 months to purchase a state of the art scanner to diagnose breast, cervical and prostate cancer. Aspects of cancer care in Spain are not as advanced as in other countries. Palliative care and support for carers rely heavily on voluntary help. It is interesting to see on the one hand spanish officials making their fiestas more accessible to expats, and expat organisations contributing to the spanish health service, which will obviously benefit all users of the service. Reciprocity and goodwill are not always synonymous with the image of Brits living in Spain. so these were both interesting revelations. I intend to go to Alfaz tomorrow after the companians weekly walk so  hopefully I shall take photos to illustrate some fiesta highlights.