We continue to walk throughout the city looking at the fogueres that are on display in different barrios. On Tuesday, we headed to another area of the city to scout out the fogueres.
Our first stop was at the local park area which is north of us. We arrived to see a massive foguere on display in the centre of the park.
Foguere in park 3 storeys high
There was an interesting theme to this foguere. The characters were representing the people involved in the making of the festival in some way. As we looked at the foguere you could see that they were making light of certain organisations involved in the festival.
The main organisers of the festival were characterised.
They made fun of the bomberos (Firefighters) with caricatures representing them. Note the enforcement bombero with the measuring tape.
Bombero with measuring tape making sure the distance is right
Then there is the physically fit bombero setting off fireworks.
Bomberos the Alicante foguere
They also had caricatures of the music with fireworks.
Caricatures of the fireworks in the festival
There was also the history of the Alicante region done through fogueres. They started with man discovering fire and working up through time to the future of the Foguere festival.
Foguere of discovery of fire by manHistory of Lucerum Romans who lived in AlicanteMoores live in Alicante and build the Castillo of Santa BarbaraFireworks tradition is started in AlicanteFuture of fireworks in Alicante
The fogueres were very well done and had an excellent theme.
The fogueres are now being constructed and the judging starts in a few days. We went to the tourism bureau and picked up a map with all the locations of the Fogueres. There are 89 fogueres in total this year. Ray mapped out a plan and we are going to try to see all of them.
Ray with map of the fogueres
Monday morning we headed out to see the fogueres. Each location has both a children’s foguere and an adult foguere for that particular neighbourhood. The first barrio we came to was Jose Antonio. This barrio has been doing the fogueres for sixty years. They celebrated by incorporating the 60 year anniversary into their foguere.
Front view of the foguere which is approximately 3 storeys highThe base of the foguere has the 60 anniversary notedBack side of the foguere with all-seeing eye
The Children’s foguere was also impressive with several key features including a dragon and witches brew.
Childrens foguere in the Barrio Jose Antonio
The rear side of the foguere was also well done with a pumpkin, books and little creatures.
Monday we walked and saw a total of 19 different barrios. The fogueres at each one of them was very unique. The amount of work and dedication it takes to do these fogueres is truly an amazing thing. The colours are extremely vibrant and the details of the figures in the fogueres are extremely well done.
foguere in Alicante waterfront areaThree storeys high foguere in centre of street intersection
Some of the fogueres had a specific theme or had a sarcastic message.
A foguere with advertising built into the theme with some sarcasm
The sign roughly translates to “how to put together your Swedish hoguera.”
Foguere illustrating the cuts of government money
Some of the fogueres were extremely ornate and very large using a crane to lower pieces of them onto other pieces.
crane being used to create a foguere
Below are just some of the unique fogueres we saw on Monday. We will do a “foguere page” at a later time in the blog of all the unique and beautiful fogueres. Note the details of the tattoo on the main character.
3 storey high foguere with very ornate designDragon tattoo on the back of the characterFooguere in centre of the main streetA floating Foguere on a raft in Marina. The huge foguere will be burnt in the marina.
We saw over forty different fogueres on Moday and were completely amazed at the amount of detail and work went into each one of them. Ray even managed to get into the spirit of the event when he worked his way into a photo shoot.
Ray with people in the foguere festival
It was a long day walking around Alicante, looking at some of the Fogueres. The day was very interesting and the fogueres are amazing pieces of art.
The Fogueres parade was held on Saturday in Alicante. The parade is made up of all the different neighbourhoods who have created a foguere for the festival. This year there is a total of 89 different neighbourhoods creating a foguere. We headed down early to the centre of Alicante to watch the parade procession.
The parade route was lined with chairs which could be rented for a few euros. Some people rented the chairs while others looked for seating in outside pub areas.
Chairs aligning the entire parade route
We had some time so we walked to Alicante city hall and checked on the progress of the foguere being constructed there. They have added a lot more to it, but there is still quite a bit more to finish it.
city hall foguere being built
After checking out the progress of the foguere we went back to watch the parade. The parade started with the official elected children (ninos) and women (mujeres) of the 2016 Fogueres.
The official women of the 2016 fogueresThe official children of the 2016 fogueres
The procession of official women and children dressed in their ornate dresses and hair pieces led the parade. After the official women and children procession, each neighbourhood foguere group was in the parade. There was a total of eighty-nine different groups. They each had a specific banner identifying their specific neighbourhood.
Banner of specific Foguere group
Each group was dressed in their own colours and had a music band playing along with them in the parade route.
Parade of Fogueres in Alicante
We moved along the parade looking at the many different designs of dresses and enjoyed the parade immensely.
Selfie at the parade
The parade was very long and went on for quite a while.
View of part of the parade procession.
There was a mix of ages, from the very young to senior members in the parade.
Young child in parade sleeping through the eventChildren of all ages were participating in the paradewalking in the parade young boy and girl in traditional clothingwearing traditional shoes and clothing
The colours of all the different groups were spectacular. The traditional dress and clothing were very ornate, colourful and amazing to see. Below are a few of the groups in the parade and a short video of one of the groups band. We definitely enjoyed the parade and all the wonderful traditional dresses on display throughout the parade.
Friday June 17th at midnight there was a fireworks and sounds display at the El Corte Ingles store. The Corte Ingles is a very large department store located in the commercial centre of Alicante. We showed up around 11:15 pm and found a good spot to watch the event. People were gathered all around the area waiting for the show.
Gathering of crowd before the start of the fireworks at El Corte Ingles
There was a school band playing music and entertaining everyone before the start. It was cute the way they played the music. They were not the best but they tried and we enjoyed an Abba song done through a brass band style.
The start of the fireworks begins with music and two firefighters rappelling off the rooftop of the eight-story building and unveiling the fogueres poster.
Unveiling of fogueres poster on El Corte Ingles building
Once they repelled down the music and fireworks show began.
The fireworks were synchronized with music. It was done quite well and added to the entire event. The fireworks display was almost 20 minutes long and had amazing effects at times. Below is a short two-song video of some of the fireworks.
After the fireworks, everyone heads home or to the local pubs. We headed home and followed the large crowd down the street. There were lots of people out enjoying the event.
On our way home with crowd leaving the fireworks
It was a very good time and we enjoyed the fireworks set off in the heart of the city for everyone to see.
We are getting close to the big day when all of the Fogueras are assembled and put on display throughout the city. They officially start on Monday, June 11th to assemble the fogueras. In total there at 89 different fogueras in the City, each one is placed in a public area in different parts of the city. One major foguera is assembled at city hall and they start putting it together early because of its size. We went down to city hall to check it out.
start of assembly of foguera at city hall Alicante
The foguera is displayed in almost the entire square at city hall. They have a crane set up to assist in lifting the large pieces into position.
Crane lifting a section of the foguera into position
The foguera is assembled on site using pre-made sections. The sections are fairly large and are brought by truck to the site.
Pieces of the foguera pre-made and ready for assembly
We watched as a group of men began to raise and assemble a wing onto the foguera.
men assembling the wing section onto the foguera using a crane
Some of the sections were very ornate and detailed. Other sections were simply wood pieces with no finish on them. One section was a woman’s face and was very beautiful.
Foguera at city hall being assembled
We walked around the site and watched for a while how it was being assembled. It certainly will be interesting to see it finished.
Ray at City hall foguera site
What is interesting and something that Ray is particularly interested in is the burning of the Fogueras. Once they have been assembled and viewed they are burnt in their current locations. This large foguera will present quite a challenge for firefighters to control the heat when it is set ablaze.
You must be logged in to post a comment.