Alicante Local Customs

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This is a town animals seem to enjoy because of it is calm and beautiful.

Photo no1: Who is this stranger? Japanese, Chinese or Korean - hard to tell. But who cares?

Photo no2: I sit down straight to welcome you. I cannot bow down like Japanese - my chin will immediately hit the ground.

Photo no3: I am itchy. I cannot wait for doing this. Excuse me, stranger!

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Santa Cruz is the name of the old quarter on the slope of Benacantil mount.

On May 3rd, the feast day of the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz) is celebrated in the quarter and in the Santa Cruz chapel, on the top of the quarter.

All the streets are decorated. Flower arrangements in the shape of a cross are made to adorn the streets.

There are music and several open-air activities. A good moment to visit a nice area of the city.

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This giants and the other figures with a large head, the cabezudos, take part in small parades in festivals as in the Hogueras de San Juan and other events.
The giants represent peasants, a Christian King and Queen and a Moorish King and Queen.

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During the Hogueras de San Juan, many girls and young women wear the regional dress. Also some men dress it, though the male is not so bright and colorful. There are many parades and events where they sport their colorful dresses.
Women that take active part in these parades and events, wearing the typical dress, are called belleas. La bellea del foc (the fire beauty) is the one selected to represent all of them, as a festival queen.

Groups of neighbors associate and build a barraca where they join during the festival evenings. They buy food and drink, hire a music band and enjoy themselves. They usually invite their friends, but if you haven’t any friend with barraca don’t worry because there are some popular barracas where you can go in.
They fence part of a street and the gates of the barracas are made also like the bonfires. In fact, they are burnt together with the hogueras the last night.

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Every neighborhood builds a hoguera but also a hoguera infantile, made for children. They are smaller, placed a few meters from the main one and the figures (ninots) usually are very friendly. They burn before the big hogueras.

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The main festival in Alicante takes place in June: we celebrate the summer solstice burning bonfires on June 24 at midnight. As June 24 is the festivity of Saint John the Baptist, the bonfires are named after him.
The bonfires are monuments of papier-machê and other combustible materials (the structure is made of wood) that satirize public figures and current events, always with humor. There is a hoguera (foguera in Valencian language) at every neighborhood. They are built a few days before and prices are given according to the category of the monuments.
For more pictures, see my travelogues of Hogueras de San Juan 2007 and 2009.

The mascletá is a series of firecrackers that last about 10 minutes, where firecrackers are combined with color sparkles.
The mascletá takes place during the Hogueras de San Juan, the main festival of Alicante, between June 19 and 24. These days, punctually at 14:00, the pyrotechnic spectacle starts.
We like the smell of the gunpowder and the noise and almost everybody come close to the Plaza de los Luceros to hear the immense noise of the mascletá.

I am writing this tip on June 24 2009, a few hours after enjoying the last mascletá of this year.