Valencia Trader

Peniscola Patron Saints Fiesta

Peñíscola is holding its Feast Days in honour of the Mare de Déu d’Ermitana (Mother of God d’Ermitana), the Patron Saint of the city. These fiestas take place between the 7th and the 16th September.  On 8th and 9th come and admire les Danses, the typical dance that dates back to 1395 with music, dancing and rituals as well as the Batalla de Moros i Cristians (Battle of the Moors and the Christians), in which the combats of the past are re-enacted. And this is just a taster of things to come in these magnificent fiestas which have been declared of National Tourist Interest.

The Patron Saint Feast Days of Peñíscola, on the northern coast of Castellón, begin on Thursday 7th September with the proclamation of the Queen, Sandra Fernández Bosch, and her court of honour. From this day on there will be passacaglia, despertaes, albaes, religious events, verbenas (open-air celebrations on the eve of a saint’s day) and danses (dances) performed by the Grup Local de Danses (Local Dance Group).

The Plaza de Armas is the place where year after year Les Danses, which constitute the most important display of the fiesta and the greatest expression of the town’s devotion for their patron saint, are performed. These ancestral dances and parades evoke the warlike and peasant tradition of the Ciudad del Papa Luna (City of Papa Luna). The origins are very old and are made up of the following groups: dansants (dancers), llauradors (farmhands), llauradoretes (female farm workers), cavallets (small horses), pelegrines (pilgrims) and moros i cristians (Moors and Christians). The most characteristic group is that of els dansants, dressed up in their starched petticoats. The castell  (castle) is the last part of their performance and consists in a human tower from which some moving verses are recited.

Saturday and Sunday are also to be highlighted for the lavish parades of the Moors and the Christians, who make their entrance and exit to the beat of the beautiful musical marches, and which end with the playing of hymns and the fireworks’ displays set off from the beach Norte y Sur.

Exhibitions, popular verbenas, sardinadas (sardine banquets), popular competitions, demonstrations and displays, theatre, concerts – such as that of La Oreja de Van Gogh on the Explanada del Puerto (Harbour Esplanade) – running of the bulls and the releasing of the young calves in the bull ring and also on the beach, these are just some of the many activities programmed for this celebration, which in 1997 was declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest.