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Revelries in Alicante are nothing short than fiery and searing with equal parts of religious devotion and utmost hedonism. The most famous festival in Alicante is the fabulously sizzling Hogueras de San Juan, a week long affair of city wide proportions held in late June. Floats carrying the forgueres -- huge, grotesque satirical figures made of wood and papier maché, are paraded down in a visually arresting procession that momentarily suspends the week’s revelries. The affair is culminated on the night of June 24 with a fiery ceremonial conflagration of the entire set of floats and their brightly colored passengers. The blazing forgueres, along with the spectators, are then doused by the fire department. After the wet adventure, even more drinking, dancing and Spanish themed partying resumes. A spectacular fireworks display is offered free for everyone.
The said festival has sported varieties of nomenclatures as Noche de San Juan, Hogueras de San Juan, Fogueras, Bonfires of Saint John, but the modern festival is the amalgamated end product of an ancient pagan celebration of the summer solstice, and the Christian feast of San Juan. Marked as the key festival in the city of Alicante, the said festival is celebrated week-long, between June 19th to 24th.
Before the year 1928, this fiesta was very similar in Alicante as the rest of Europe. Such festivals basically saw people gathering together and burning objects of choice. Through the initiation of one man in Alicante by the name of Jose María Py, the idea was adopted according to the pattern set by the popular fiestas across Valencia called Fallas. When three months lapsed, the first Hogueras de San Juan came into being, and Alicante was never the same again.
The heart of the festival’s heart lies in the Día de San Juan, where giant cardboard, wood and paper maché effigies end up in a larger than life conflagration, on June 24th.
What first transpires on the way to Día de San Juan is colorful parades, along with the Flower Offerings to Our Lady of Remedy. There is also a bull fighting festival while musical concerts endlessly reverberate all throughout. People don’t stop to slumber as the street partying goes from dusk until dawn. Mascletás (firecrackers) resonate across the city.
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In the streets, the hogueras or the effigies are raised by corresponding artisans representing each of Alicante’s 86 barrios (neighborhoods). These giant satirical effigies, albeit the humble materials of cardboard and papier mâché, are transformed to artistic creations.
Before the bonfires on the 24th, tourists and locals throng to the streets during the week to tour around Alicante and get a thorough glimpse of the artsy works pending the torching. For good measure, a local transit even sets up a free Hogueras bus that tours the streets to take in all of the main Hogueras and some of the minor ones.
The thrill begins just before midnight. Countdown ticks down the time until the clock strikes twelve on the night of San Juan, when a grandiose firework display erupts from the Castillo de Santa Bárbara. The reverberating lights signals the lighting of las hogueras. Far from over, the fiery display raises the celebrations to fever pitch, washing the streets aglow from the rising flames. After the pent up anticipation, the festival ends in a mind blowing razzle dazzle.
After these, scathing remarks are thrown to the bomberos (firemen). This is a strange ritual expected of everyone in Alicante to sufficiently 'motivate' the firemen to shower the crowds.
True to its Spanish roots, the celebrations in Alicante generally don’t fade until the sun starts to peek up the next morning. Though the street bars and baracas (street bars with music) generally stop operations only at 4 am, people disperse either to seek out churros (a local pastry) or party on in the discotheques to finish the night off.
Famous for their fiestas, Spanish towns such as Alicante normally hold such functions as a miscible mixture of solemn religious observance and rambunctious street party. In late April, the Moros y Cristianos is celebrated in commemoration of the reconquista (reconquest), or defeat and expulsion of the Moors from Alicante in the 13th century. Adorned by splendid period costumes, locals turn out by the heaps for the festival.
Seven days later at the start of July, it's time for the Feast of San Pedro. More processions are paraded, more effigies are torched, more fireworks explode above, and more drinking and dancing ensue around makeshift wooden party enclosures known as ‘barracas.’ Apart from these significant celebrations, the rest of the year for Alicante is generally more subdued. In September, the annual theatre festival, dubbed the Alicante e Esena and the Alicante International Music Festival exhibit significant works concerned. In December, the International Puppet Festival showcases the best puppets from around the globe.
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