Valencia Trader

Bonfires of San Juan 2007

Come and experience The Bonfires of San Juan (Hogueras de San Juan) in Alicante and enjoy this festivity; feel the welcome of this land and enjoy los castillos, (firework displays), las mascletaes (firecrackers), and the huge effigies that once again are central elements of the festivity and its final triumphal culmination.

The nocturnal mascletàs (strings of firecrackers) are the prelude to Bonfires of Sant Joan in Alicante. Every day from 13th to 18th June you can enjoy a mascletà in a different place in the city at 12 midnight.

The mascletàs begin at twelve o' clock at night, except for on the Saturday when that of the San Gabriel quarter delays it until one o' clock to provide the Bellea del Foc procession with time to return.

The nocturnal mascletàs are the prelude to the bonfire fiestas and they begin from Wednesday 13th June onwards, the first being celebrated on the beach known as Playa de San Juan organised by Antonio Caballer. On Thursday 14th Alicante Pyrotechnics of Fire and Fireworks will set off the following ones in the park of Gran Vía Garbinet.

One day later the mascletà will be in the district of Santo Domingo-Plaza de Tomás Valcárcel and will be organised by Pirotecnia Rius. On Saturday 16th June the time will change to 1 o' clock, the Pirotécnica Piroquiles will set off this mascletà in the street called Bahía in the Barrio de San Gabriel. On Sunday 17th June it will be in Nou Alacant organised by El Portugués and the last will be on 18th in Plaza de los Luceros launched by Pirotécnica Fernández.

History

The villages of the Mediterranean coast celebrate the coming of the summer solstice around bonfires that cleansed and purified. In Alicante, the ritual of fire survived throughout the centuries as a festivity connected to the farming community.
In 1928 the association called Alicante Atracción was created to encourage tourism to the city. With this aim in mind, the Town Hall gave them the authority to organize the first hogueras de San Juan festivities on an official basis. Within a few years, there were more than thirty Hogueras, and in 1932 the maximum representation of the Festivity was established, Bellesa del Foc (The Beauty Queen of Fire).

Present Day Festivities

Nowadays, nearly 90 hogueras are set up in the city of Alicante, and there are more than ten thousand direct participants of the Festivity, in which the Comisiones de Hogueras (committees in charge of each particular effigy) and Comisiones de Barracas (committees who control the open-air spaces with bars, dance areas and tables and chairs) play an important role. These festivities are also held in other towns in the Region of Valencia, mainly in the province of Alicante, such as Benidorm, Torrevieja or Xàbia, but also in Nules, in the province of Castellón, as an exception.

Among the main acts, we must single out the plantà (setting up) of the hogueras and barracas, las mascletas, (firecrackers) the parades, the offering of flowers, la cremà and the firework displays.