Gandia’s Fira i Festes autumn fair is one of the biggest and most spectacular events in our area.
Its huge fun-fair and full programme of concerts and theatre productions packed with music and dance - including Earth, Wind & Fire - is second only to the fair in Valencia city itself.
The Fira i Festes - celebrated in honour of patron saint Sant Francesc de Borja - begins on Wednesday 29 and continues in grand style until Sunday October 3.
In this week’s CB Friday we look at the fascinating history of the fair’s most famous character, the Tío de la Porra, and give details of the events of the opening days.
Next week we will give the whole programme of events, with photos and background information on the groups, and hope you will come and see us at our own stand.
If you have never enjoyed the colour, spectacle and fun of Gandia’s Fira i Festes, this is the perfect opportunity to soak up all the fun of the fair...

El Tío de la Porra
The most famous character of these fiestas - the Tío de la Porra - will inaugurate Gandia’s Fira i Festes.
But the novelty this year is that the cavalcade organised by the Pluja Teatre theatre company will be enlivened by the marching bands of La Safor.
The great procession of percussionists from every corner of the district will announce the start of the fiestas and invite all residents and visitors to join in the fun.
The cavalcade will set off from the Town Hall square on Wednesday and will finish in the same square after filling the centre of town with the incessant sound of drums.
On the following day, school pupils will receive the visit of a very special person in grotesque and striking dress who will encourage them to close their books and leave their classrooms to take part in the traditional meeting in the Plaza Mayor.

Origins of the Tío de la Porra
The Tío de la Porra represents the handing over of power from the local authorities to the people so they can enjoy the fiestas. From this moment the people become the leading players in the events.
The handing over of power is staged with the town mayor giving the staff of office to the Tío de la Porra.
In bygone days, this grotesque character was played by the town bailiff. In a burlesque and satirical performance he took hold of the staff and paraded through the streets with his cortège.
The origins of the Tío de la Porra cavalcade go back to 1871. The notary of that time, Pascual Sanz, wrote: “A grotesquely dressed figure paraded through the town announcing the fiestas to the sound of the drums. At 10 o’clock, at the Escuelas Pías college, there was a similarly grotesque cavalcade, made up of young people of the town’s most distinguished classes dressed in the former ceremonial uniform of councillors, their faces disfigured with several colours and huge noses.”
If we go back further into the origins of this character, these could come from the Roman ‘Saturnales’, popular fiestas in which social reality was reversed and social differences disappeared as the power of the governors was left in the hands of the people for a few days.
Pascual Sanz tells us that in 1871 he visited this town for the 200th anniversary of the canonisation of San Francisco de Borja. The notary was received by a great cortège because in that year the town celebrated the fiesta in grand style, regardless of expense.
Local authorities drew up a list of the town’s professional guilds and illustrious residents who organised the fiestas with activities including bull-running and dancing.
One of the programmed acts was the cavalcade of the fiestas, organised by students at the Escuelas Pías.
Hours before the cavalcade began, a grotesque figure paraded through the streets with a drum to announce the start of the fiestas. The cavalcade included characters disguised in uniforms of the French Revolution and other aspects that still appear in the dress of the Tío de la Porra. They represented councillors, bailiffs, officials and two mayors.

Pluja Teatre with the Tío de la Porra
The Pluja theatre company has managed to recreate the origins of this cavalcade to bring us closer to the fiestas of those days and how the people lived them.
To begin with, the group has recovered the spectacle of the clothes worn by the Tío de la Porra. Records from 1871 say the character who satirised the town’s local government carried a drum and the staff of office and wore a jaqué (ancient ceremonial suit) along with joke nose and glasses.
The theatre company began its performances in 1974. Since then it has given nearly 30 performances, making it a well-established company in Valencian theatre of the past 25 years.
Now the group is a theatre cooperative with five members although it sometimes uses the help of other professionals for its performances.
Thanks to its experience in giving theatre courses in many La Safor schools and since the premiere of its first children’s show (Raspa, Sompo i el Màgic Tutti-Frutti), in recent years the group has been able to produce spectacles for young people.
These works aim to encourage the relationship of the youngest spectators with the world of stage theatre, with shows that are both fun and educational.