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ORDER 4/2019, of 7 February, of the Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sport, by which the Arbret de Altea Festivals are declared to be of intangible local relevance: Arbret de San Juan, Arbret de San Roque and Arbret de San Luís.
CHRONOLOGY
Uncertain, possible since the seventeenth century and documented in the nineteenth century.
CONDITION OF THE PROPERTY
In the festival of L'Arbret de Altea, cultural elements of the different peoples who have occupied these lands for centuries converge. Of all the popular festivals celebrated in Altea, it is the one that is most reminiscent of ancient cults. It is the festival that celebrates the summer solstice and venerates vegetation as a thank you to mother earth for the harvests. As a tradition imbricated in the society of Altea and in the place where it develops, its ethnological value and the ritual, ceremonial, recreational, sacred or religious, historical and traditional aspects that concur in it, endorse its cataloguing as a Historic Site of local interest.
LOCATION AND LANDSCAPE OF L'ARBRET DE SANT JOAN
The feast of L'Arbret de San Joan, originally, was the feast of the farmers of Altea. It is the festival of the Fornet neighbourhood and the Old Town of Altea, therefore, it takes place in part of the Traditional Historic Centre and within the BIC of the Baluarte and Renaissance enclosure of the Vila de Altea. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, this urban area was the focus of the social and commercial activity of Altea.
In the Plaza de la Iglesia, its center, the main events of the San Joan festivities are concentrated and it is where the tree is planted. In addition to the Fornet and the Old Town, part of the suburb of Las Cuestas and the Pla del Castell also participate in the festival.
In its last section, coming from Avenida de la Nucía, from Plaza de la Cruz, the arbret runs through: Cuesta de los Machos, El Calvario, Calle Alcoy, Rincón de la Promesa, Alcoy, Calle San Miquel and Plaza de la Iglesia. Undoubtedly, the urban landscape that runs through the festival is one of the most emblematic of Altea.
The festival consists of the felling of a poplar, its transfer on its back and the subsequent placement in the center of the Plaza de la Iglesia de Altea. The arbret is celebrated annually coinciding with the summer solstice and the celebration of the birth of Saint John the Baptist. The feast of St. John and the Arbret is heir to a multitude of rites and customs typical of pre-Christian festivities that are widespread throughout Europe. This festival synthesizes cultural elements of the different peoples and civilizations that have occupied this territory. The arbret represents the exaltation and renewal of life after winter. The symbol of this festival is the tree and it is worshipped. The placement of a tree in the square is considered fertilizer. The young people move the poplar tree that will fertilize the land because it provided abundant fruit in the harvests. Participants usually see in the poplar a great phallic symbol; in classical mythology the poplar was the tree consecrated to Hercules, a symbol of strength and bravery.
ARBRET DE SAN ROC
The date of celebration and location of the feast of San Roque: The festivity is on August 16, but it is celebrated on the first Sunday of August in the Pda. Huerta-Quintanes. The previous Saturday the arbret event is held.
The antiquity of the hermitage of San Roque dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, in front of it is the threshing floor, where it was formerly used for the drying of raisins or the threshing of cereals that were cultivated at the time and that gradually ceased to be cultivated, also and since then the threshing floor served as a meeting point and scene of festivals and events for the residents of the neighborhood.
The traditional acts of the festival are: mass of San Roque, joys of San Roque, mass of souls, novena, the 'plantà de L'Arbret' and 'despertà', and as traditional foods: 'sopar de cabasset', paella contest and 'coca a la llumà'.
ARBRET DE SANT LLUIS
The date of celebration and location of the feast of San Luís: The festivity is on October 9 and is celebrated on the last Sunday of August in La Lloma, Pla del Castell and Barranquet. The previous Saturday the arbret event is held.
According to Francesc Martínez i Martínez "Còses de la meua terra" the festival dates back to 1870, in homage of the neighbors to the politician Lluis Martínez i Beneyto who had a house in the neighborhood, they held a party in honor of the Valencian saint Sant Lluis Bertran.
The Hermitage of San Luis was built in 1945 and, three years later, the image carved in the imagery workshop on Jesús y María Street in Valencia was enthroned, the cost of which was contributed by all the residents of the neighborhood. The traditional acts of the festival are: religious acts, L'Arbret, the return on foot, and as traditional meals: 'sopar de cabasset', coca a la llumà and paella contest.
MUSIC AND TRADITIONAL FOOD OF THE ARBRET OF ALTEA