Neighbourhood festivals

POPULAR NEIGHBOURHOOD FESTIVALS

In Altea, festivals are held throughout the year, although summer concentrates most of them. There is always something to celebrate and on many occasions the streets are filled with joy and festive atmosphere.

The Moors and Christians, Easter, the Castell de la Olla, the night of San Juan, are examples of celebrations and events to delight in Altea.

Summer in Altea is like these summers we see on television, where people wear white clothes, straw hats and matching sandals to show them off in front of the sea and dance in a verbena. Altea is Mediterranean and this is what it offers you.

Altea is characterized to be the town with the most summer festivals in the region, covering every weekend from June to September with a neighborhood festival.

This type of party usually lasts from Friday to Monday. Within these days there are events such as the "entrà de la murta" (small parade where sweets, toys or sweets are distributed to children, it is the afternoon in which the doors of the hermitages are decorated (with which all the festivities will be decorated). Colloquially the "murta" is the shrub that grows in the ravines of the area (usually in places that are difficult to access). It is a shrub with green leaves and it smells very good. In short, they dedicate a parade to this shrub with which the small "temple" for the festivities is decorated.

 

Before the entrance of the murta or, sometimes coinciding on the same Friday, the "cabasset" dinners or neighborhood dinners are celebrated. It is a dinner in which the neighbors of the neighborhood get together in "the threshing floor" to have dinner together and share food and a good time. There is usually a disco-mobile, or a musical revue or a duo enlivening the night.

During some days throughout the festivities it is typical to offer attendees "coca a la Llumà" (dough with sausage, green and red tomato and some salted fish), another day giant paella is usually offered for all attendees or also paella contest (where groups of people prepare their own paella to eat, in addition to entering the competition). Depending on the decision made by the commission, every year they make giant paella or contest, or years they do it all.

The afternoons are usually dedicated to the little ones, with popular games, "bota-bota", entertainment or theater. It is also dedicated to the elderly on some afternoons, with which regional dances, theatre or snacks are offered.

The nights are for dancing and enjoying, orchestras from all over the area come to the small neighborhoods of the countryside of Altea to offer their shows. Young people enjoy these nights a lot.

In the mornings, around 8 am, the festival commission parades through the streets of the neighbourhood throwing rockets to the sound of the music of traditional instruments, such as the xirimita and the tabal. This act is called "despertà" (action of waking up the neighborhood).

There are also the traditional masses to the saints, every Sunday they pray to a saint (to whom the feast is dedicated) and on Mondays to the deceased of the neighborhood in question.

 

Some of these festivals celebrate the "Arbret", such as the festivals of San Juan, San Roque and San Luís. The "Arbret" is an ancestral tradition where men and women cut down a tree (which was planted for this and, it must be said, they replant to be able to continue the tradition without deforesting) and carry it on their backs in a very fun way based on water (which they pour on top) and wine (which they drink from the traditional jugs). At the sound of different chants, people throw water at them. Along this route they stop for a snack (sausage and salted with bread).

Their clothes (t-shirts) are torn along the way, since it is typical to break this piece to finally hang on the tree. Once they reach "the threshing floor", the epicenter where all the festivities are held, men and women plant the tree by hand by pulling 3 or 4 ropes (depending on the space of the place). The joy is contagious among the entire audience once planted and the xirimita and the tabal play to the sound of the show.

In the case of the festival of Sant Llorenç, it hosts the Castell de l'Olla, a show that is offered every summer on the beach of La Olla.

The Castell de l'Olla is a fireworks display that is held on the Saturday closest to the feast of San Lorenzo, and which
It has become, over the years, a well-known pyrotechnic show that manages to summon more than 50,000 people every year.

It has more than 30 years of history and is characterized by the launch of fireworks from various platforms in the sea,
being able to enjoy the show from different points of Altea.

 

 

In the festivities of Santa Ana on the day of the paellas they make a great "banyà", the attendees get wet whole to soften the heat and spend a fun midday.

In the case of the festivities of San Pedro, which are celebrated in June or July coinciding with the patron saint of sailors, the Virgen del Carmen, a seafaring procession is carried out. They take the saints out in fishing boats and throw wreaths made of laurel into the water (in recognition of the deceased sailors).

In addition, between the months of July, August and September, the festivities of San Jaime, San Roque, San Isidro, San Luís and, on the first weekend of September, San Tomás, are celebrated.

If your holidays coincide with any of these months, you can participate in any of the festivals, you will be welcome to participate in the open-air dances and the events that are held for all audiences. Altea and its neighbourhood festivals are waiting for you!