April 26 – Burial of the Sardine in Spain

nPostednon April 26, 2014

It’sna parade.

nIt’sna festival.

nIt’sna fireworks show.

nIt’sna huge fiesta.

nIt’s…anfuneral? For a fish?

n
n
nThenBurial of the Sardine Festival is a very popular event in Murcia,nSpain. It is the last event of the Carnival / Lent / Easter season,nand it dates back to 1850, when a group of students paraded throughnthe streets with a sardine.

I’mnnot sure if that long-ago group used a real sardine—which is, let’snface it, small and stinky—or if they used a larger papier-machensardine, but these days Spaniards use a papier-mache effigy.

nManyngroups of street entertainers have make the city merry in the daysnbefore the festival. Last night “Lady Sardine” read a humorousnspeech from the balcony of town hall. n

nTodaynthe street entertainers are making a cavalcade (parade) that windsnthrough the streets with “giants” and “big heads” and bands.nThere are also Brazilian samba groups and torch bearers and menndressed up as women, pretending to be widows mourning the sardine.nBest of all, there are floats dedicated to the Olympian gods; peoplenon the floats throw thousands of toys out into the crowd!
n

“Giants”

“Big Heads”

Floats – the “gods” throw
hundreds of thousands of
euros’ worth of toys into the
crowd!

nAfternthe parade, the sardine is not buried—it’s burned! I guess thensardine represents fasting and abstinence—but does its cremationnmean “we’re done with all that now”? Actually, I gather that thendestruction of a symbol by fire means putting away the problems andnfaults of the past, and putting away the excesses of Carnival time,nand starting anew.

Alongnwith the burning of the sardine is the fireworks display. And thennthe people party!

n(Bynthe way, there are “Burials of the Sardine” in other Spanishncities as well. Murcia’s festival is unusually big, wacky, and latenin the year compared to others.)

n
n
n

n
n
nAlsonon this date:

n n

n
n