Annual fiestas in Archena
The main fiestas in Archena are held between Easter and the end of June
Each town and village in Spain has its own annual fiestas apart from those of Christmas, the New Year and Easter Week, and in Archena, inevitably, the timing, nature and peculiarities of these celebrations are closely linked to the history of the town and to the importance of the thermal spa waters at the Balneario in its development over the centuries and in the local economy.
As the summary below makes clear, anyone hoping to sample a festive atmosphere on the streets of Archena is best advised to do so between Easter and the end of June, when there is barely a break between the different sessions of partying and religious devotion which characterize the town in late spring and early summer!
After the arrival of the Three Kings bearing gifts on 6th January, the main fiestas in Archena every year are the following:
February: Carnival
In Archena the tradition used to be for Carnival to be celebrated on the Sundays before and after Ash Wednesday, with the costumes in the first event being those which were worn last year, before the new ones were unveiled in the second parade. However, the popularity of the celebration declined in the 1990s, and although it is on the increase again this century there is now only one procession, which attracts around 2,500 participants and double that number of spectators for what is known as the “Desfile de Piñata”.
Semana Santa
As in the rest of Murcia and Spain, Easter Week is one of the most important fiestas in the annual calendar in Archena, and in 1995 the celebrations were awarded Regional Tourist Interest status.
The celebrations begin in Archena on the Sunday before Palm Sunday, with the official opening speech in the church of San Juan Bautista, but the processions begin five days later with a Vía Crucis in which only the figure of the Virgen de los Dolores is paraded through the streets.
On Palm Sunday another procession ends with Mass, and palm fronds are supplied to locals wishing to take part.
The Monday of Easter Week features another Vía Crucis starting at the church of Corpus Christi, and the following day sees the popular “Procesión del Perdón”, the first of the evening events in Semana Santa in Archena. This includes the sculptural tableaux depicting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Denial of Peter, the Jesús del Rescate, the Cristo de los Azotes, the Cristo del Perdón, La Piedad and La Soledad.
On the Wednesday it is the turn of the Procesión del Prendimiento, with eight tableaux showing the Passion of Christ. At the head of the procession is the Cruz de los Espejos, followed by the Ecce Homo, the Roman guards, the Cristo del Gran Poder, the Cristo de la Agonía, the Cristo de la Sangre, John the Evangelist and La Dolorosa.
Strictly speaking there are no processions on Maundy Thursday because the one which is held in silence begins at midnight, featuring only the figure of Christ on Mount Calvary There are then two more during Good Friday, the most important day of the week in Archena. The first of these is the “Procesión del Encuentro Doloroso” in which 13 tableaux take part, and after which, in an unusual ritual, the figure of Christ is removed from his cross so that he can later be paraded on his sepulchre. This occurs in the evening’s “Procesión del Santo Entierro”.
On Easter Saturday there is a solemn vigil, and then comes the joy and celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Early in the morning there is an “encuentro”, a meeting of the figures of San Juan, the Virgin Mary, María Magdalena, the Cross and the figure of Christ Resuscitated, and doves and balloons are released into the sky as a shower of sweets rains down on the crowds.
May or June: the fiestas in honour of Corpus Christi and the Virgen de la Salud
The date of the moveable feast of Corpus Christi can fall any time between 21st May and 24th June, since it was established as being on the Thursday or Sunday after Trinity Sunday (or 60 days after Easter) when it was first celebrated during the 13th century.
The celebration of the Virgen de la Salud in Archena is far more recent, though, and the fact that Our Lady of Health is one of the patrons of the town is inextricably connected to the presence of the thermal spa or Balneario in Archena. She was officially declared patron after the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), during which the statue representing her had been hidden in the crypt of the church, saving it from the fate which sadly befell thousands of other works of religious art during the conflict in the Region of Murcia alone.
At this point the date on which the fiestas in honour of the Virgen are held was switched to Ascension Day, which is traditionally the Sunday after Corpus Christi. On this day a Romería is held in which the Virgen de la Salud is taken from her church in the Balneario to the centre of the town. In the past she also came to the centre of Archena in September, and there have been recent moves to restore that tradition.
The figure of the Virgen de la Salud was commissioned in 1876 by the Vizcondes de Rías, the owners of the Balneario, from sculptor Salvador Páramo.
Archena’s fiestas in honour of Corpus Christi and the Virgen de la Salud begin with the proclamation of fiesta Queens and princesses, and are a combination of religious devotion on the one hand and popular partying on the other. After the opening “chupinazo” fireworks and a wine cart event, there is a fairground, a children’s theatre week, concerts and a host of other events including races, Bicycle Day, Paella Day and a scaled-down version of bull running in which a calf is let loose on the streets.
One of the most unusual features is the preparation of carpets of coloured salt over which the procession walks. In the past, when the procession was held the tradition was for households to drape their most colourful carpets, blankets and embroideries outside their homes to decorate the route, and on the ground carpets of petals and aromatic plants were created. Nowadays the carpets are created by using salt, and are real works of art in the streets of Archena.
The fiestas close with a grand float parade, fireworks and the return of the Virgen de la Salud to her church in the Balneario.
Last weekend of June: Moros y Cristianos
The Moors and Christians fiestas in Archena are held during the last weekend of June, so hot on the heels of the celebrations of Corpus Christi and in honour of the Virgen de la Salud that in fact they often run into each other!
As in many other towns in the Region of Murcia, they commemorate the end of Moorish rule in the 13th century, although in Archena and the rest of the Ricote valley they have a special relevance: this is due to the fact that after the Reconquista by Catholic forces many Muslims (or former Muslims converted to Catholicism) remained in the area long after they had practically disappeared from other parts of Murcia and Spain. This was even the case long after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain in 1492.
The date of the Moros and Cristianos celebrations in Archena is a remnant of the times when the town’s patron was St John the Baptist, whose feast day is on 24th June.
The central event of the fiestas is the representation of the delivery of the “Carta Puebla” by the Order of San Juan de Jerusalém, which was entrusted with Archena and the surrounding land after the 13th century Reconquista (for more details consult the history of Archena), to the former Muslims (known as “Mudéjares) in 1462. The aim of this document was to encourage the repopulation of the area, and although it was originally signed by just 13 Mudéjares, within 50 years that figure had risen to around 100 heads of household (probably equivalent to 400 people or so).
The festivities also include various parades of the Moorish and Christian embassies (locals dressed up in extravagant costumes).
1st September: the “Fiestas del Polvorín"
Unlike most fiestas in the Region of Murcia, which tend to have a religious basis, these celebrate an event which occurred on the 1st September 1963, when there was a huge explosion in a military gunpowder store on the hill of Cabezo del Tío Pío just outside the town, on the other side of the River Segura. The explosion was so fierce that it was felt for a radius of more than 25 kilometres around its source, covering the fields for miles around with ash which was deemed to be beneficial for the crops and the fertility of the soil, and windows were shattered in much of the town centre.
Fortunately only one person was injured, and nowadays the date is commemorated every year by these local fiestas, which have expanded and over the years and now include a number of sociable and community events, concluding with a Romería in honour of the Virgen del Rocío.
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