IF YOU'RE in the Comunidad Valenciana any time between now and the early hours of March 20, you may notice an awful lot of noise and colour on the streets. It's the season for the region's biggest festival,...
Fallas and other UNESCO fiestas in Spain
17/03/2022
NOW THAT the Fallas are well under way, fiesta fans in the Comunidad Valenciana are not likely to let a little bit of rain stop them celebrating for the first time since March 2019.
Well, a lot of rain, actually, but the organisers in Valencia city promised that the traditional flower-offering would still be going ahead, meaning you can now catch the gigantic Virgin Mary with her dress and body made entirely from blossoms.
Almost as famous outside Spain as some of its more world-renowned fiestas like the Tomatina – the biggest and messiest food-fight on earth – and Semana Santa, or Easter week, the Fallas hold UNESCO intangible heritage status, meaning their continuity is guaranteed, as is their global attraction.
And they're one of 11 festivals, pageants or general entertainment events that UNESCO recognises in this way, out of a list of 20 intangible heritage features in Spain.
Here's a lowdown on the showy, fiesta-y, musical and general performance-related UNESCO intangible heritage you'll find in the country – and as for the rest of the 20, they're worth a separate article in themselves, so stay tuned to our site for a description and some fascinating photos of those later on, too.
The Fallas (Valencia city and wider province)
As well as the summer solstice, the spring equinox is big in the city of Valencia, its wider province and several towns in the north of that of Alicante and the south of that of Castellón – two days before it falls on March 21, the Fallas go up in flames.
Pronounced 'fah-yas' (a 'll' is a 'y' in the Spanish of Spain), despite the apparent bilingual word-play, the name doesn't come from the fact combustion is involved – and said combustion is merely a way of ensuring the continuity of the massive yearly festival and the jobs of its artists; the papier mâché monuments, or fallas (with a lower-case 'f'), satirising current affairs and famous people (à la Alicante's midsummer Hogueras), are literally the size of a house, and storage is impractical; they cannot be brought out year after year, because they are supposed to be topical; those who build and paint them spend about 10 months on each, meaning they are constantly in work, which they wouldn't be without this apparently sacrilegious destruction.
Each falla has its own club, or commission, with a marquée (casal) set up next to it, and members eat, party, rest and play in these for the best part of a week – everything except sleep, of which they only get a couple of hours a night.
Members, who wear traditional Valencian folk costume, are called falleras if they're girls, falleros if they're boys, and only the females get to hold the positions of real status: Fallera del Casal (expensive, because you have to provide everyone's food for the week); Fallera del Foc (the one who lights the blue touch-paper to set off the string of bangers that lead to the falla catching fire); and the Fallera Mayor, or falla queen, who can only have the job once in a lifetime and is the equivalent of Carnival Queen or a small-scale Miss Spain.
The Fallera Mayor gets to choose a figurine, or ninot from the falla to save from the flames; known as a ninot indultat, it then goes on display in a local museum.
Parades, fancy-dress competitions, prizegivings for the fallas to decide on the order of burning (the winner goes last), mascletaes (said strings of banners, looped up across a central square and lit once daily to create deafening noise and coloured smoke), and the offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary, or Ofrenda, where a huge wooden scaffold with the head of the mother of Christ is filled with bouquets until they form the skirt and rest of the body, are some of the key features of the biggest festival on the region's calendar.
It all apparently started through carpenters having a spring clean and burning their surplus wood in piles in the street – traditionally on the Saint's Day for Joseph, the biblical carpenter, which is March 19, and also Father's Day in Spain.
El Canto de la Sibila (The 'Sibil Singing'), Mallorca
Every Christmas Eve at midnight mass, a sword-bearing singer – male or female – accompanied by at least two choirboys or choirgirls carrying long candlesticks parades around the church until s/he reaches the choral group at the altar, then draws a cross in the air.
The song, which has not varied – neither has any other part of the performance – since its Gregorian origins, is sung a cappella with a couple of organ notes between the two verses.
All those involved wear white tunics, the children with the candles in waist-length versions over a differently-coloured floor-length gown, and the singer in white from head to foot but with the collar, lapels, cape and crown in the colour of the choir children's gowns.
Every church on the island follows the same ritual at midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and every generation takes part, guaranteeing its survival through the centuries.
Mare de Déu de la Salut fiesta (patron saint festival in honour of the 'Virgin of Health'), Algemesí, Valencia province
Practically every single town, village, city, and even neighbourhood in Spain celebrates a fiesta in honour of its chosen patron saint every year, with at least one day during it being a local bank holiday – giving rise to the bizarre situation of getting the day off work and finding your nearest supermarket closed, whilst the one a couple of streets away is open because it's an ordinary business day.
Many patron saint festivals are scheduled to coincide with other types, such as the Moors and Christians in those parts of the country which had a strong presence of Arab-origin inhabitants in the Middle Ages – combining them saves money, and enables them to be bigger and better.
The one in Algemesí, about half an hour south of Valencia and a short drive inland, takes place over September 7 and 8, and features open-air plays, dance shows and concerts in each of the town's four original neighbourhoods, parades between the basilica and the chapel, human towers known in the region as muixerangues, and two key processions in costume.
In the first of these, two gigantic figures represent the late-13th and early-14th century King Jaime I (King Jaume I in the regional language, valenciano) and his wife, Violante of Hungary; the second depicts characters from the Bible, mostly the New Testament and in particular, the Apostles.
Why is it UNESCO heritage when every town has a patron saint fiesta?
Well, in the case of Algemesí, all the costumes, accessories and decorations are hand-made, the whole town takes part (expats included; fewer than 10 British nationals are thought to live there, but everyone gets involved, whether they were born in Algemesí or on another continent altogether), and the musical scores and parade structure has remained the same for generations.
La Patum, Berga (Barcelona province)
The almost onomatopoeic festival centres on a giant drum which constantly goes 'pa-toom' for the best part of a week, over the Corpus Christi period – popularly said in Spain to be around 'May 40th', or June 9, but lasting around seven days.
Theatrical, themed processions, starting with the 'coming out' of the Tabal, or mammoth drum, hailing the opening of the fiesta, include els Cavallets (cardboard horses), les Maces (demons with hammers and whips), les Guites (scary monsters going around head-butting and goring), the 'eagle', the 'big-headed dwarfs', els Plens (devils of fire), and giants dressed as Saracens.
It all sounds a bit like Charles-Dickens-meets-Terry-Pratchett, and that's not actually too far from reality; add in fireworks, acrobats, music, and a mass crowd dance, known as el Tirabol, culminating the march.
A blend of the sacred and profane, keeping close to its original Mediaeval roots – when superstition was practically popular science, and stringent adherence to the teachings of one's religion considered a safeguard against everlasting torment in the next life – La Patum continues to be a global visitor magnet and its UNESCO status ensures it will continue long after Berga's current population have faced 'judgment day' and, hopefully, avoided the very real hammer-wielding demons of the next world.
The Mystery of Elche (Alicante province)
We're not talking Agatha Christie here. 'Mystery' plays were big in the Mediaeval era, with key biblical scenes acted out in costume and to music, the entire script sung rather than narrated as direct speech, churches being the theatre auditorium.
It was the Middle Ages' equivalent of the latest fantasy drama TV series, film, or stage musical, and seasonal, normally taking place at the time of year relevant to the story in question – Christmas, for example.
Once, they were everywhere, in almost every church across Europe, but hardly any have aged well enough to allow them to keep going – except the one in the southern Alicante-province city that's home to the largest palm forest anywhere on earth except the Arabian peninsula.
Non-stop since the 15th century, the representation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, from her coronation to her death, is acted out with music of the era (using original scores and even the original play script) over the 'feast' of the same name, which is August 15.
It starts the day before and finishes on the evening of what is a national public holiday in Spain, including night parades through the streets, where part of the play that starts in the Basilica de Santa María takes place.
Taking over the city and with over 300 local residents volunteering as cast, extras, directors, backing musicians, singers, costume-makers, scene-shifters and everything else that goes into staging a two-day-long operatic play on location across a complete urban centre, the only bit that does not follow the directions and techniques of the very first version in the 1400s is the drones used for special effects.
Talking of aircraft, Elche is served by Alicante-Elche airport just a short distance up the road, so highly convenient for international visitors who can combine the Mystery play with a palm-forest tour, a beach break and a visit to Alicante city with its iconic hilltop castle and Roman ruins.
Human 'castles' (Castells), Catalunya
A similar concept exists in the Comunidad Valenciana along the east coast, particularly south of Valencia city – the Muixeranga, a type of 'human tower' (see the photo from the Mare de Déu de la Salut festival above) – but those in Catalunya follow a specific format, including being accompanied by a standard score on a dulçaina (dulcimer, or reed recorder) and taking place in a set place: The square outside the town or city hall, close to the part where the main balcony is, which is partly for practical reasons.
A balcony can be an emergency escape route if things go wrong when you're on one of the upper 'floors' of a seven- or 10-storey human 'towerblock', after all.
From the base, whose members have to be extremely physically strong and robust to bear the weight of another six to nine layers of humans, the tronc or 'trunk' is from the second 'storey' upwards as far as the third from the top, which comprise the upper spire, or pom de dalt.
Logically, the higher up you are, the slimmer, smaller and lighter in bodyweight you'll be, and the better at climbing – years of practice, and constant practice, are crucial to mastering the skill and until you are pretty expert at it, will not be trying it out in public.
Passed on down the generations, a skill that's acquired exclusively by 'doing', each human castle or castell wears a uniform in the colours of their group or company, including a wide sash which protects their backs and enables others to grab onto when scaling them.
Flamenco (mainly Andalucía)
Your vision of a gaudily-coloured stage show of castañets, polka-dot dresses a-swirling, melodramatic lamentations, fans and gypsy guitars is not entirely incorrect, insofar as Mickey and Donald do look a bit like a mouse and a duck; there's some reality in the popular (mis)representations, but shouldn't be taken as visual evidence of what it actually is.
And although, for many, said stage shows are taken to be what Spanish people look like and do all day, that's as much a myth as the idea that Scottish people only ever wear kilts and pass their every waking hour at the bagpipes.
Flamenco is a strictly Andalucía phenomenon, although some tradition spills over into the neighbouring regions of Extremadura, in Spain's west, and Murcia, in its east, and the colourful dresses and showiness are purely for entertainment.
It was borne of a form of social expression, at a time when lyrical poetry and movement were a way of communicating, long before TV, pop music or even the written word came into fashion – tragedy, joy, fear, grief, and even general everyday stress, using concise, simple language, slow and sensual movements or fast-paced footwork, hand-clappìng and foot-tapping, and is considered unique to the person 'performing' or communicating and those joining him or her in said 'conversation'.
'True' flamenco is spontaneous and personal, and involves instinctive, unspoken communication threads between those involved, and can be as much a part of a private family community as part of a fiesta or religious pageant.
An intrinsic feature of Spain's ancient gypsy or gitano community – which is thought to have originated centuries ago in the Punjab region of India and have dispersed into the different Roma contingents across Europe, who live settled lives in houses rather than as travellers, and are as much a part of mainstream society as any other Spaniard – flamenco is partly art, partly ritual, but mostly emotional; what you see at Sevilla's Feria de Abril, or April Fair, and at flamenco extravaganzas is a way of making it accessible to the general public.
Think of a school Nativity play with carols and popular children's festive songs, compared with the actual verses of the bible that describe the coming of the Messiah – very different in representation, but with the same story thread running through it.
Summer solstice festivals in the Pyrénées
Midsummer madness takes many forms in Europe. From Sweden, with its midnight sun in the far north and fairly short dark spells in the south, with their yellow floral crosses on beaches and traditional drinking songs deliberately designed to be repeated in a slightly more slurry fashion as the beer reserve depletes, to coastal Spain with its San Juan bonfires you jump over after burning a 'wish-list' in at the stroke of midnight before running into the sea and leaping over the first three waves, to the Hogueras tradition in the province of Alicante – particularly Alicante city and Jávea, about an hour north – with papier mâché caricatures of politicians and celebrities burnt down at the dead of night, midsummer is about far more than just the office prophet of doom pointing out that the 'nights are now drawing in' once the longest day passes.
'Midsummer' is a misnomer, because the longest day, June 21, is the official start to, not the middle of, summer, or at least technically so in the northern hemisphere outside the tropics (the meteorological summer falls on different dates by country).
So far, the only festival to mark it, in Spain, is the one in the border mountains in the far north – villagers descend the slopes carrying torches, folk songs and dance take place, a giant bonfire is lit, traditionally by the most recent person in a village to have got married, and for teenagers, it's considered to be the moment when they pass from childhood to adulthood.
Ashes from the fires are taken home by all those present, and kept as a good-luck talisman.
The festival in the provinces of Lleida and Girona (Catalunya), Huesca (Aragón), the Basque Country, and just over the border in France, are known universally as 'the Fallas of the Pyrénées', likening them to the massive fiestas in the Comunidad Valenciana.
Floral patio festival, Córdoba
Communal courtyards and private terraces alike in Córdoba city centre become an explosion of colour, life and song, neighbours and entire families gathering in them for some impromptu flamenco-singing and dancing, open-air dining, and general socialising – a melting pot of local culture combined with international, given that all those whose flowery patios are given over to the festival open them to the public, so tourists wander in and out and take pictures.
Dressing up patios with bright hues of flowers and plants is often a community effort, and as well as being a beautifully-psychedelic visitor attraction, can win prizes for their owners for the best arrangements.
Córdoba city gets fewer visitors in summer, given that the heat in this inland urban hub can be extreme, but is a Mecca in winter for those escaping the cold, as a typical late-December, January or February day can max out at above 20ºC – although the vast majority of long-distance trippers will try to combine their obligatory, once-in-a-life-time-as-a-minimum tour of the Great Mosque with the flower festival, to maximise their selfie opportunities.
To see both of Córdoba's biggest tourism magnets, head there at the beginning of May – the festival runs over 12 days.
Drum-playing rituals, or tamboradas (nationwide)
Tamboradas are about more than just bashing out a rhythm. They are intense, prolonged ritual beats, with hundreds or even thousands of drums played at once, repeating the sequence again and again, day and night, in streets and squares.
There may not be a tune as such, in the musical sense, or lyrics, but the pure, dry tattoo feels like a song, creating an all-encompassing atmosphere of passionate sound, filled with emotion.
Although these massive drumming teams and the 'conversation' of their harmonised beats can be found at any type of festival, pageant or celebration, they are most commonly present at the Semana Santa or Easter week fiestas, which are, in themselves, deeply moving.
One of the best-known of these is in the village of Calanda (Teruel province, Aragón), where so much heart and soul, so much blood, sweat and tears – literally – and so much physical and mental energy go into the tamboradas that players often come away with their knuckles shredded and bleeding – but it's something they are proud of.
The community of players is an equally huge element – they are typically as close as family, experiencing a kind of mutual intuition that borders on telepathy when performing, and regularly meet up for massive group meals, wear uniform costumes, pass on their skills through the generations, and run workshops on playing and on drum-making.
These are hand-made individually by specialist artisans, and the process and design forms part of the whole 'intangible heritage' package.
Drum-playing rituals ensure the local community bonds through long-running tradition – one of the key elements to being successful in a UNESCO intangible heritage bid.
Los Caballos del Vino ('The Wine-Horses'), Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia
An uphill horse-race, but with a difference – instead of being ridden, the horses are led, meaning there's a limit to how fast they can go. And that limit is set by humans; you'd have to be Usain Bolt to outrun a horse even at an energetic working canter, never mind full-throttle gallop.
Part of the patron saint fiestas for the Santísima y Vera Cruz ('Most Holy and True Cross'), the horses, usually the beautiful, highly-tractable and easy-to-school Pura Raza Española, are shown in-hand in a parade through the streets, each one flanked by four trainers, and foot-followers in a huge crowd gather behind.
They are adorned in brightly-coloured embroidered silk headcollars, rugs and fly-masks, with gold thread running through them, and the ritual and art of sewing these, typically a family trade, is part of its essential character.
Clearly, to be able to be led through crowds and be decorated bodily, the horses will, by default, be bomb-proof; a flighty, nervous animal would not cope or be safe, so they need to be calm and unflappable by nature.
-The in-hand race is up the hill to the castle, and it's perfectly ethical since, like in all equestrian sports, the horses are trained in the discipline and well-practised, will be fit enough to manage it, and proper handling and schooling at home is essential – horses do not perform unless they are happy and kindly treated.
Breeding for the purpose, the training process, handling techniques, and general equine care involved, as well as the embroidery methods, are passed down through generations with entire families competent in the practice – and the UNESCO title recognises the fact that young people grow up learning responsibility, ethical animal treatment, and the mutual respect and cooperation involved in the relationship between horse and human.
Rosettes are given to race-winners and the best decorations, local wine is celebrated and drunk, and the entire event creates a sense of community camaraderie.
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NOW THAT the Fallas are well under way, fiesta fans in the Comunidad Valenciana are not likely to let a little bit of rain stop them celebrating for the first time since March 2019.
Well, a lot of rain, actually, but the organisers in Valencia city promised that the traditional flower-offering would still be going ahead, meaning you can now catch the gigantic Virgin Mary with her dress and body made entirely from blossoms.
Almost as famous outside Spain as some of its more world-renowned fiestas like the Tomatina – the biggest and messiest food-fight on earth – and Semana Santa, or Easter week, the Fallas hold UNESCO intangible heritage status, meaning their continuity is guaranteed, as is their global attraction.
And they're one of 11 festivals, pageants or general entertainment events that UNESCO recognises in this way, out of a list of 20 intangible heritage features in Spain.
Here's a lowdown on the showy, fiesta-y, musical and general performance-related UNESCO intangible heritage you'll find in the country – and as for the rest of the 20, they're worth a separate article in themselves, so stay tuned to our site for a description and some fascinating photos of those later on, too.
The Fallas (Valencia city and wider province)
As well as the summer solstice, the spring equinox is big in the city of Valencia, its wider province and several towns in the north of that of Alicante and the south of that of Castellón – two days before it falls on March 21, the Fallas go up in flames.
Pronounced 'fah-yas' (a 'll' is a 'y' in the Spanish of Spain), despite the apparent bilingual word-play, the name doesn't come from the fact combustion is involved – and said combustion is merely a way of ensuring the continuity of the massive yearly festival and the jobs of its artists; the papier mâché monuments, or fallas (with a lower-case 'f'), satirising current affairs and famous people (à la Alicante's midsummer Hogueras), are literally the size of a house, and storage is impractical; they cannot be brought out year after year, because they are supposed to be topical; those who build and paint them spend about 10 months on each, meaning they are constantly in work, which they wouldn't be without this apparently sacrilegious destruction.
Each falla has its own club, or commission, with a marquée (casal) set up next to it, and members eat, party, rest and play in these for the best part of a week – everything except sleep, of which they only get a couple of hours a night.
Members, who wear traditional Valencian folk costume, are called falleras if they're girls, falleros if they're boys, and only the females get to hold the positions of real status: Fallera del Casal (expensive, because you have to provide everyone's food for the week); Fallera del Foc (the one who lights the blue touch-paper to set off the string of bangers that lead to the falla catching fire); and the Fallera Mayor, or falla queen, who can only have the job once in a lifetime and is the equivalent of Carnival Queen or a small-scale Miss Spain.
The Fallera Mayor gets to choose a figurine, or ninot from the falla to save from the flames; known as a ninot indultat, it then goes on display in a local museum.
Parades, fancy-dress competitions, prizegivings for the fallas to decide on the order of burning (the winner goes last), mascletaes (said strings of banners, looped up across a central square and lit once daily to create deafening noise and coloured smoke), and the offering of flowers to the Virgin Mary, or Ofrenda, where a huge wooden scaffold with the head of the mother of Christ is filled with bouquets until they form the skirt and rest of the body, are some of the key features of the biggest festival on the region's calendar.
It all apparently started through carpenters having a spring clean and burning their surplus wood in piles in the street – traditionally on the Saint's Day for Joseph, the biblical carpenter, which is March 19, and also Father's Day in Spain.
El Canto de la Sibila (The 'Sibil Singing'), Mallorca
Every Christmas Eve at midnight mass, a sword-bearing singer – male or female – accompanied by at least two choirboys or choirgirls carrying long candlesticks parades around the church until s/he reaches the choral group at the altar, then draws a cross in the air.
The song, which has not varied – neither has any other part of the performance – since its Gregorian origins, is sung a cappella with a couple of organ notes between the two verses.
All those involved wear white tunics, the children with the candles in waist-length versions over a differently-coloured floor-length gown, and the singer in white from head to foot but with the collar, lapels, cape and crown in the colour of the choir children's gowns.
Every church on the island follows the same ritual at midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and every generation takes part, guaranteeing its survival through the centuries.
Mare de Déu de la Salut fiesta (patron saint festival in honour of the 'Virgin of Health'), Algemesí, Valencia province
Practically every single town, village, city, and even neighbourhood in Spain celebrates a fiesta in honour of its chosen patron saint every year, with at least one day during it being a local bank holiday – giving rise to the bizarre situation of getting the day off work and finding your nearest supermarket closed, whilst the one a couple of streets away is open because it's an ordinary business day.
Many patron saint festivals are scheduled to coincide with other types, such as the Moors and Christians in those parts of the country which had a strong presence of Arab-origin inhabitants in the Middle Ages – combining them saves money, and enables them to be bigger and better.
The one in Algemesí, about half an hour south of Valencia and a short drive inland, takes place over September 7 and 8, and features open-air plays, dance shows and concerts in each of the town's four original neighbourhoods, parades between the basilica and the chapel, human towers known in the region as muixerangues, and two key processions in costume.
In the first of these, two gigantic figures represent the late-13th and early-14th century King Jaime I (King Jaume I in the regional language, valenciano) and his wife, Violante of Hungary; the second depicts characters from the Bible, mostly the New Testament and in particular, the Apostles.
Why is it UNESCO heritage when every town has a patron saint fiesta?
Well, in the case of Algemesí, all the costumes, accessories and decorations are hand-made, the whole town takes part (expats included; fewer than 10 British nationals are thought to live there, but everyone gets involved, whether they were born in Algemesí or on another continent altogether), and the musical scores and parade structure has remained the same for generations.
La Patum, Berga (Barcelona province)
The almost onomatopoeic festival centres on a giant drum which constantly goes 'pa-toom' for the best part of a week, over the Corpus Christi period – popularly said in Spain to be around 'May 40th', or June 9, but lasting around seven days.
Theatrical, themed processions, starting with the 'coming out' of the Tabal, or mammoth drum, hailing the opening of the fiesta, include els Cavallets (cardboard horses), les Maces (demons with hammers and whips), les Guites (scary monsters going around head-butting and goring), the 'eagle', the 'big-headed dwarfs', els Plens (devils of fire), and giants dressed as Saracens.
It all sounds a bit like Charles-Dickens-meets-Terry-Pratchett, and that's not actually too far from reality; add in fireworks, acrobats, music, and a mass crowd dance, known as el Tirabol, culminating the march.
A blend of the sacred and profane, keeping close to its original Mediaeval roots – when superstition was practically popular science, and stringent adherence to the teachings of one's religion considered a safeguard against everlasting torment in the next life – La Patum continues to be a global visitor magnet and its UNESCO status ensures it will continue long after Berga's current population have faced 'judgment day' and, hopefully, avoided the very real hammer-wielding demons of the next world.
The Mystery of Elche (Alicante province)
We're not talking Agatha Christie here. 'Mystery' plays were big in the Mediaeval era, with key biblical scenes acted out in costume and to music, the entire script sung rather than narrated as direct speech, churches being the theatre auditorium.
It was the Middle Ages' equivalent of the latest fantasy drama TV series, film, or stage musical, and seasonal, normally taking place at the time of year relevant to the story in question – Christmas, for example.
Once, they were everywhere, in almost every church across Europe, but hardly any have aged well enough to allow them to keep going – except the one in the southern Alicante-province city that's home to the largest palm forest anywhere on earth except the Arabian peninsula.
Non-stop since the 15th century, the representation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, from her coronation to her death, is acted out with music of the era (using original scores and even the original play script) over the 'feast' of the same name, which is August 15.
It starts the day before and finishes on the evening of what is a national public holiday in Spain, including night parades through the streets, where part of the play that starts in the Basilica de Santa María takes place.
Taking over the city and with over 300 local residents volunteering as cast, extras, directors, backing musicians, singers, costume-makers, scene-shifters and everything else that goes into staging a two-day-long operatic play on location across a complete urban centre, the only bit that does not follow the directions and techniques of the very first version in the 1400s is the drones used for special effects.
Talking of aircraft, Elche is served by Alicante-Elche airport just a short distance up the road, so highly convenient for international visitors who can combine the Mystery play with a palm-forest tour, a beach break and a visit to Alicante city with its iconic hilltop castle and Roman ruins.
Human 'castles' (Castells), Catalunya
A similar concept exists in the Comunidad Valenciana along the east coast, particularly south of Valencia city – the Muixeranga, a type of 'human tower' (see the photo from the Mare de Déu de la Salut festival above) – but those in Catalunya follow a specific format, including being accompanied by a standard score on a dulçaina (dulcimer, or reed recorder) and taking place in a set place: The square outside the town or city hall, close to the part where the main balcony is, which is partly for practical reasons.
A balcony can be an emergency escape route if things go wrong when you're on one of the upper 'floors' of a seven- or 10-storey human 'towerblock', after all.
From the base, whose members have to be extremely physically strong and robust to bear the weight of another six to nine layers of humans, the tronc or 'trunk' is from the second 'storey' upwards as far as the third from the top, which comprise the upper spire, or pom de dalt.
Logically, the higher up you are, the slimmer, smaller and lighter in bodyweight you'll be, and the better at climbing – years of practice, and constant practice, are crucial to mastering the skill and until you are pretty expert at it, will not be trying it out in public.
Passed on down the generations, a skill that's acquired exclusively by 'doing', each human castle or castell wears a uniform in the colours of their group or company, including a wide sash which protects their backs and enables others to grab onto when scaling them.
Flamenco (mainly Andalucía)
Your vision of a gaudily-coloured stage show of castañets, polka-dot dresses a-swirling, melodramatic lamentations, fans and gypsy guitars is not entirely incorrect, insofar as Mickey and Donald do look a bit like a mouse and a duck; there's some reality in the popular (mis)representations, but shouldn't be taken as visual evidence of what it actually is.
And although, for many, said stage shows are taken to be what Spanish people look like and do all day, that's as much a myth as the idea that Scottish people only ever wear kilts and pass their every waking hour at the bagpipes.
Flamenco is a strictly Andalucía phenomenon, although some tradition spills over into the neighbouring regions of Extremadura, in Spain's west, and Murcia, in its east, and the colourful dresses and showiness are purely for entertainment.
It was borne of a form of social expression, at a time when lyrical poetry and movement were a way of communicating, long before TV, pop music or even the written word came into fashion – tragedy, joy, fear, grief, and even general everyday stress, using concise, simple language, slow and sensual movements or fast-paced footwork, hand-clappìng and foot-tapping, and is considered unique to the person 'performing' or communicating and those joining him or her in said 'conversation'.
'True' flamenco is spontaneous and personal, and involves instinctive, unspoken communication threads between those involved, and can be as much a part of a private family community as part of a fiesta or religious pageant.
An intrinsic feature of Spain's ancient gypsy or gitano community – which is thought to have originated centuries ago in the Punjab region of India and have dispersed into the different Roma contingents across Europe, who live settled lives in houses rather than as travellers, and are as much a part of mainstream society as any other Spaniard – flamenco is partly art, partly ritual, but mostly emotional; what you see at Sevilla's Feria de Abril, or April Fair, and at flamenco extravaganzas is a way of making it accessible to the general public.
Think of a school Nativity play with carols and popular children's festive songs, compared with the actual verses of the bible that describe the coming of the Messiah – very different in representation, but with the same story thread running through it.
Summer solstice festivals in the Pyrénées
Midsummer madness takes many forms in Europe. From Sweden, with its midnight sun in the far north and fairly short dark spells in the south, with their yellow floral crosses on beaches and traditional drinking songs deliberately designed to be repeated in a slightly more slurry fashion as the beer reserve depletes, to coastal Spain with its San Juan bonfires you jump over after burning a 'wish-list' in at the stroke of midnight before running into the sea and leaping over the first three waves, to the Hogueras tradition in the province of Alicante – particularly Alicante city and Jávea, about an hour north – with papier mâché caricatures of politicians and celebrities burnt down at the dead of night, midsummer is about far more than just the office prophet of doom pointing out that the 'nights are now drawing in' once the longest day passes.
'Midsummer' is a misnomer, because the longest day, June 21, is the official start to, not the middle of, summer, or at least technically so in the northern hemisphere outside the tropics (the meteorological summer falls on different dates by country).
So far, the only festival to mark it, in Spain, is the one in the border mountains in the far north – villagers descend the slopes carrying torches, folk songs and dance take place, a giant bonfire is lit, traditionally by the most recent person in a village to have got married, and for teenagers, it's considered to be the moment when they pass from childhood to adulthood.
Ashes from the fires are taken home by all those present, and kept as a good-luck talisman.
The festival in the provinces of Lleida and Girona (Catalunya), Huesca (Aragón), the Basque Country, and just over the border in France, are known universally as 'the Fallas of the Pyrénées', likening them to the massive fiestas in the Comunidad Valenciana.
Floral patio festival, Córdoba
Communal courtyards and private terraces alike in Córdoba city centre become an explosion of colour, life and song, neighbours and entire families gathering in them for some impromptu flamenco-singing and dancing, open-air dining, and general socialising – a melting pot of local culture combined with international, given that all those whose flowery patios are given over to the festival open them to the public, so tourists wander in and out and take pictures.
Dressing up patios with bright hues of flowers and plants is often a community effort, and as well as being a beautifully-psychedelic visitor attraction, can win prizes for their owners for the best arrangements.
Córdoba city gets fewer visitors in summer, given that the heat in this inland urban hub can be extreme, but is a Mecca in winter for those escaping the cold, as a typical late-December, January or February day can max out at above 20ºC – although the vast majority of long-distance trippers will try to combine their obligatory, once-in-a-life-time-as-a-minimum tour of the Great Mosque with the flower festival, to maximise their selfie opportunities.
To see both of Córdoba's biggest tourism magnets, head there at the beginning of May – the festival runs over 12 days.
Drum-playing rituals, or tamboradas (nationwide)
Tamboradas are about more than just bashing out a rhythm. They are intense, prolonged ritual beats, with hundreds or even thousands of drums played at once, repeating the sequence again and again, day and night, in streets and squares.
There may not be a tune as such, in the musical sense, or lyrics, but the pure, dry tattoo feels like a song, creating an all-encompassing atmosphere of passionate sound, filled with emotion.
Although these massive drumming teams and the 'conversation' of their harmonised beats can be found at any type of festival, pageant or celebration, they are most commonly present at the Semana Santa or Easter week fiestas, which are, in themselves, deeply moving.
One of the best-known of these is in the village of Calanda (Teruel province, Aragón), where so much heart and soul, so much blood, sweat and tears – literally – and so much physical and mental energy go into the tamboradas that players often come away with their knuckles shredded and bleeding – but it's something they are proud of.
The community of players is an equally huge element – they are typically as close as family, experiencing a kind of mutual intuition that borders on telepathy when performing, and regularly meet up for massive group meals, wear uniform costumes, pass on their skills through the generations, and run workshops on playing and on drum-making.
These are hand-made individually by specialist artisans, and the process and design forms part of the whole 'intangible heritage' package.
Drum-playing rituals ensure the local community bonds through long-running tradition – one of the key elements to being successful in a UNESCO intangible heritage bid.
Los Caballos del Vino ('The Wine-Horses'), Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia
An uphill horse-race, but with a difference – instead of being ridden, the horses are led, meaning there's a limit to how fast they can go. And that limit is set by humans; you'd have to be Usain Bolt to outrun a horse even at an energetic working canter, never mind full-throttle gallop.
Part of the patron saint fiestas for the Santísima y Vera Cruz ('Most Holy and True Cross'), the horses, usually the beautiful, highly-tractable and easy-to-school Pura Raza Española, are shown in-hand in a parade through the streets, each one flanked by four trainers, and foot-followers in a huge crowd gather behind.
They are adorned in brightly-coloured embroidered silk headcollars, rugs and fly-masks, with gold thread running through them, and the ritual and art of sewing these, typically a family trade, is part of its essential character.
Clearly, to be able to be led through crowds and be decorated bodily, the horses will, by default, be bomb-proof; a flighty, nervous animal would not cope or be safe, so they need to be calm and unflappable by nature.
-The in-hand race is up the hill to the castle, and it's perfectly ethical since, like in all equestrian sports, the horses are trained in the discipline and well-practised, will be fit enough to manage it, and proper handling and schooling at home is essential – horses do not perform unless they are happy and kindly treated.
Breeding for the purpose, the training process, handling techniques, and general equine care involved, as well as the embroidery methods, are passed down through generations with entire families competent in the practice – and the UNESCO title recognises the fact that young people grow up learning responsibility, ethical animal treatment, and the mutual respect and cooperation involved in the relationship between horse and human.
Rosettes are given to race-winners and the best decorations, local wine is celebrated and drunk, and the entire event creates a sense of community camaraderie.
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