| The Moors and Christians festivities |
| The Moors and Christians Festivities Photo Gallery April 2005 |
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The festivities celebrated nowadays in Alcoi to honour its saint patron are the result of an evolution along three centuries, whose origin is the historycal battle that took place in April the 23rd of 1276, in which the christian people from Alcoi won the moors leadered by Al-Azraq with the miracolous help of saint George. | |||
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The
first chronicle of the festivities is given in the "Célebre
Centuria" of Carbonell, published in 1672, in which all the religious
events and celebrations are described, with one innovation: a group
of men "Christian-Moors" and another one of "Catholic-Christians",
being the origin of the nowaday called "filaes", in number
of 28.
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In this chronicle, Carbonell explained how the celebrations took place, honouring the saint in his church with music, a procession, a simulated battle between the two troops, the Christian one and the Moorish. The structure of the events celebrated nowadays is quite similar to the XIX century, due to the influence of the industrial evolution process and the assotiations that appeared because of it. This fact was the origin of the different groups, "filaes", with more than 5.000 active members. The festivities are celebrated traditionally during three days, from April the 22nd to the 24th. April the 21st. is dedicated to the parades called "Primera Diana" and the "Entrada de Cristians" (the parade of the Christian troops) in the morning anf the "Entrada de Moros" (the parade of the Moor troops). The day of the saint patron, the 23rd, concentrates all the religious events, such as the Mass and two processions, a general one and the saint's relic procession. The 24th is the day for the struggle called "Alardo", a silumated battle between the Christian and Moorish troops with gunpowder weapons (more than 5.000 kg are consumed) and the "Embajadas", where the two armies try to obtain the enemy's surrender, and the speeches of this event are more than a century and a half old. At the end of the day takes place the "Aparición de Sant Jordiet". The little boy ellected to be the saint appears at the top of the castle, riding a cardboard horse and throwing plastic arrows that symbolises the Christians victory against the Moorsih troops thanks to his help. |
The festivities were declared of Touristic Interest in 1965, and fifteen years later, the 18th of January of 1980, achieved its calification of International touristic interest, alongside with Pamplona's Sanfermines , Valencia's Fallas and the Holy Week in Zamora and Sevilla. |