ENTIERRO DE LA SARDINA
This is a unique and
original fiesta which takes place on the Saturday after
Easter Sunday. Together with the Bando de la Huerta, it
is the big Murcian fiesta.
The Entierro is the victory of Don Carnal over Doña
Lent. A pagan festival, with its origins in mythology and
fire, it is a magical, unmissable night for any visitor
to the city.
The origin of the Entierro de la Sardina goes back to the
mid 19th century, when a group of students from Madrid,
who used to get together in the storeroom of the San Anton
pharmacy, decided to form a funeral procession presided
over by a sardine. The sardine symbolises fasting and abstinence,
as they wanted to revive the carnavalesque festival held
in Madrid on Ash Wednesday. What they probably never realised
was that their fiesta would come to be so popular.
The festival is organised by the "Grupos Sardineros",
who stir the city into excitement with their parades in
the days leading up to the event. This is particularly true
of Saturday morning in the boulevard Alfonso X el Sabio,
where a widely attended and informal parade takes place.
The night before the parade, Doña Sardina, represented
by a woman, usually a journalist chosen by the "Sardineros",
reads the Last Will and Testament of the Sardine from the
balcony of the town hall, making humorous references to
public events and characters.
The parade is made up of two different parts: The head has
brass bands, dancers, all kinds of groups to liven up the
party, a Chinese style dragon, people on stilts, or giants,
and people wearing huge heads (cabezudos). The second part
is made up of floats adorned with Greek motifs and dedicated
to the Olympian Gods, which accompany the Sardine until
it is burned next to the Town Hall. Thousands of toys, of
all shapes and sizes are given out from the floats, the
most notable being the overused whistle!.
Fireworks, music, brass bands, dancers, floats, toys, carnival
groups, "hachoneros" (people who guard the floats),
a concert of whistles… All of these come together in
a night of madness and magic, when everybody without exception,
fights for a toy.
More information in www.fiestasdemurcia.com
