Moors and Christians: the fiesta event

This is the second part of a blog about Moors and Christians or Moros y Cristianos. The first part is called Moors and Christians: the real thing and it gives the history behind this event. This blog is about putting on funny costumes and parading through the streets.

The Moors and Christians festivals in all the towns have their own peculiarities. The costumes can be of varying styles, the individual events that make up the whole can be different, there can be different names for something more or less the same, the scale can vary enormously, the duration can also vary, the historical setting for the events may be different and even the type of music the accompanying bands play can have a local dimension. Nonetheless, most have essentially the same principal events. That said please bear in mind that this account has to be generalised and so is not always strictly accurate.

The event is, in essence the re-enactment of a fight between two ideologies, Muslim and Christian, so the starting point is that there are two factions and the final victory always goes to the Christians. Each of the two sides is made up of groups which are usually called comparsas though filae or fila is also relatively common. Often families will identify with a particular comparsa, generation after generation, joining the same group. 

In any town that celebrates Moors and Christians you'll see buildings of all shapes and sizes identified as the headquarters for these groups. The ones with crescent moons, crossed scimitars and Arabic script are Moors and the ones with coats of arms and crosses are Christians. The groups have names like Almogávares, Moros Beberes, Ballesteros, Zingaros, Realistas, Piratas, Mudéjares, Flamencos, Abencerrajes and so on. Each of these differently named comparsas is a sort of social club with their ultimate goal being to get their comparsa out onto the street during the fiesta with the best uniforms and best accessories and the best everything else. Along the way the participants won't forget to have a bit of fun and to move quite a lot of alcohol.

It's usually pretty easy to tell whether you're watching Moors or Christians – beards, curved swords, harem pants, veils and the like for Muslims and chain mail, big broadswords and silk dresses for the Christians. Within the Christian ranks there are often spoon, or pencil carrying, students. I have no idea why they carry spoons nor do I know why students are Christian when the Moors were famous for their scholarship. There are, commonly, pirates, contrabandistas (smugglers) and sometimes sailors too. Given the one time fame of Barbary pirates I always expect these ship going types to be Muslims but I've seen them on both sides of the divide.

How the two sides are organised varies from town to town and event to event. There is always one one overall boss for the Christian side and another for the Moors. These chiefs are usually chosen by some sort of votation or there may be some sort of rotation within the various comparsas. This overall commander is sometimes called captain, sometimes a general and sometimes king or queen. The individual comparsas usually have some sort of figurehead too and any number of sub officials such as squadron chiefs and flag bearers. There are often events that are to do with this hierarchy - presentation of flags, naming of chiefs etc.

I think all the Moors and Christians festivals have a Catholic procession somewhere among the events. Usually the whole festival will be to the glory of some saint or other and said saint will get moved to the parish church escorted by the various comparsas.

So these religious and protocol are a part of the Moros y Cristianos fiesta but the big thing, the popular thing, the crowd pleasers are the desfiles, the parades. If you're trying to decipher a programme in Spanish be careful of the difference between procesión, which is a religious parade, and words like entrada, desfile and cabalgata which are the spectacular and secular parades. Typically the most spectacular events are the Moorish and Christian entradas, the entrances. Normally the entradas are two separate events though in some smaller festivals Christians and Moors may parade together. The costumes are often spectacular, especially the Muslim ones, and there may be all sorts of extras like war chariots, horses and fire breathing dragons. 

Within the entrada each each comparsa will divide its ranks into groups of 10-14 people called an escuadra. These people will wear matching outfits and be led by a squadron chief. As they pass by you the squadron chief will be inciting the crowd to cheer. Each comparsa will have at least one musical band and often several bands helping it to march along. The music for Moors and Christians often includes a style of music typical to the town or region.

The other big event, apart from the entrada, is the embassy, la embajada. An embassy is deputation or mission sent by one ruler or state to another. It usually takes place either by a mockup castle or, if the town happens to have a real castle, there. It's a play in two parts and it has a prologue which is sometimes called the estafeta, a sort of preamble to the embassy, the first delegation before the embassy. Only a few characters are involved in the embajada, the chiefs of the Christians and Muslims, the ambassador and a few sentries from either side - again there are lots of variations so sometimes there are armed infantry squads or maybe riders on horseback. The Muslims request the surrender of the town, the Christians say not on your life, and so the battle begins.  

The resultant battle is often the chance to use some incredibly loud and old fashioned looking guns called arquebuses, I think that these sort of events are often referred to as alardos. In some places, where the guns include canons, the event is called a guerrillera. If you go to see a battle take ear plugs. The Muslims win the first battle and take the castle. Later there is a second embassy, this time the roles are reversed and this time it's the Christians who win, for ever and ever. 

As well as the entradas of the Moors and Christians there are other events which may or may not happen in every town. One, which is a little confusingly named, is the Entrada de la Bandas. This is a sort of introduction to all of the groups often without their full regalia. I think in some places this sort of event is called a retreta.

These parades only happen once a year in each town. When they happen depends on local tradition so there are parades all year around. I've noticed that the mid year celebrations are becoming more common. Six months after the date of the main event there will be some sort of celebration and some low key events.

And now, I think, that's Moors and Christians done to death!