Marina's TravelsThe Voyages & Discoveries of a Young Woman

Aflame in Alicante – June 23-25, 2015

§ July 16th, 2015 § Filed under Spain, Spain - Barcelona § 2 Comments

It was a last minute decision, but on Monday, June 22, I bought my tickets to visit my Tita Cristi and Tito Curro in Alicante for el dia de San Juan. I had only heard about this crazy festival in passing: bonfires, effigies, fun! And why waste a perfectly good day off from class sleeping in my residencia when I could witness the festivities first hand, in the city most known for the celebration!?!? 

I was able to convince five friends to take the trip down with me, but because they bought their tickets separately, they left an hour earlier and came back later – I was on the Renfe train on my own again (the first time being to Malaga). The trip was about five hours in duration, though the ride down there was delayed an hour and a half by rain – the only real rain I experienced in Spain for the entire month, lucky me! I was greeted at the station by my aunt and uncle, and we went directly to their apartment for some dinner and rest. Considering they’ve been living in Alicante for 13 or so years, my family has never been to visit them – we always see them on our trips to Malaga. I am proud to say I have even beat my dad, my aunt’s brother, in seeing their place!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for San Juan. My professor back in Barcelona had no idea about the huge celebrations in Alicante, and told us that Barcelona is where one should be during the holiday – how wrong she was! The preparation for the festival takes all year, and people begin to practice with their firecrackers weeks before! The morning of June 24, for example, I was woken up by an explosion of firecrackers in the street below the apartment as a marching band played loud music. My aunt said it was their attempt at waking up the neighborhood.

The holiday originates in primitive rituals practiced during the summer solstice. There are also connections to the practices of witches. Just like so many other Christian holidays, San Juan seems to be an appropriated tradition. Let’s look at some of the cool things that go on during the week:

BONFIRES. On the night of June 23, people congregate on the beaches, Alicante’s main tourist attraction, and light bonfires. I didn’t see this, as I was very tired and spent the night catching up with mis tios. My friends, however, did make it to the beach and participated in the festivities. All over Spain, not just in this coastal city in the region of Valencia, people light fires and jump over them. I would never, but some of my friends did!

MASCLETA. A display of noise, period. At 2:00PM on June 24, the main streets of the city are crowded like Times Square on New Years. People wait in the heat for deafening sounds of bombs and explosions. It is full daylight, so there is no expectation for pretty fireworks – just the noise. My aunt and uncle told me that it would be so loud, that if I plugged my ears or closed my mouth, my ear drums would break. I stood there staring at the smoke in the sky with a gaping mouth, afraid to close it to swallow, in the rare possibility I would go deaf forever. My aunt doesn’t like the crowds or the noise, but my uncle pushed us as close as possible to witness the event. It was definitely a site to see (or hear)!

 

LAS HOGUERAS. As I said before, preparation for San Juan takes an entire year. The reason for this is because it takes time to design and create the beautiful wooden sculptures on display throughout the city. Artists work tirelessly on their masterpieces, entering them in the competition for the best sculpture in the city. Walking through the streets, you can see humongous “hogueras,” medium sized ones, and “baby” ones, usually with more juvenile themes. Many of the large sculptures are pieces of satire. The winning one, for example, features caricatures of corrupt politicians. Another one, a grotesque facsimile of Miley Cyrus and her oh-so-famous tongue. Oh my! How could I forget? The reason for all of these beautiful sculptures is to use them as fodder for the fires of the night! There were over 50 hogueras this year, meaning 50 fires throughout the hours of darkness! Starting at 12:00AM on June 25, one by one the wooden works of art are lit on fire… by firecrackers and fireworks! Bomberos or firefighters are on site to make sure everything is safe, but we can’t always prevent window awnings from catching fire, can we!

MARIONETAS. This was something I wasn’t told about, but I found it really cool! On my walk through the city with my aunt and uncle, we stopped by the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) to see large figures, or puppets, dancing to some traditional music. They must have been at least 18 feet tall. People stood underneath their skirts and moved them around to the dance. The puppets traveled around the city doing their little show in various plazas.

BELLEZA DEL FUEGO/BELLEA DEL FOC. My family comes from Malaga, Andalucía, so I am very familiar with the traditional traje gitano, or flamenco dress. I was surprised to see very different traditional garb at the festivities for San Juan. Translated, these “Beauties of the Fire” are young girls and young women who dress in large skirts and lacey mantles. They each represent their own sections of town, their pictures plastering the windows of restaurants and the walls of buildings. They walk through the streets accompanied by a little marching band, dancing traditional dances.

EL RACÓ. Everyone loves to get together for the holidays, whether you are in the United States or Spain! For San Juan, the streets are filled with large enclosures, casetas, or in Valenciano, racós. Each one has its own bellea, often times has its own hoguera, and has tables where people can eat. Many of these are private enclosures, paid for during the year by the families who use them. Some are more public, and allow anyone inside. Either way, the wire fences and tons of food crowd the streets and definitely make the city more than a little dirty for the week!

Overall, I had an amazing time in Alicante – both culturally and personally. I got to experience a tradition and festival that exists nowhere else, and I got to do so with my aunt and uncle! I practiced my Spanish and became even more confident with it. This was another opportunity to learn how to travel by myself. And overall, I returned to Barcelona knowing that I definitely did not waste precious Study Abroad time! In talking to those who stayed behind, the Sant Joan (San Juan in Catalan) celebrations were nothing compared to what I saw!

MUCHAS GRACIAS A TITA CRISTI Y TITO CURRO POR DEJARME QUEDAR CON VOSOTROS EN VUESTRO PISO MUY BONITO! ERA UNA EXPERIENCIA MARAVILLOSA Y VOY A RECORDARLA POR TODA MI VIDA.