Spring Festivals and Traditions in Spain

SPRING in Cuenca means Holy Week.

In the run-up to Easter Sunday, the city welcomes holiday-makers and music-lovers who come for the annual Festival of Religious Music, held in the church of San Miguel which overlooks the river Jucar. Orchestral and choral groups from all over the world turn up to take part in the week-long celebration.
The centuries-old "Drunkards' Procession" begins at dawn on Good Friday from the Plaza del Salvador. All along the way, the marchers expect to be beset by hecklers, the "turbas" who are supposed to represent Jews who scorned Christ as he bore his cross to Calvary.
The turbas are supposed to be tanked up on the local poison, resoli, made from coffee beans, cinnamon, and orange peel steeped in corrosive aguardiente. Unfortunately, for the past few years, there has been an invasion of troublemakers from all over Spain who use the celebration as a pretext for "a night on the tiles" and this may irreparably spoil the traditional spirit of the festival.
LOOKOUT, December 1988

Moors and Christians

In the town of Alcoy, Alicante province, there are noisy mock battles between the Moors and the Christians during the month of April in commemoration of the Reconquest. The celebration began in the 17th century. Groups of Moors and Christians drive through the town accompanied by noisy bands, after which a battle ensues with the triumph of the followers of the Cross, who surround the Moors and defeat them. Everything goes on amidst the noise of fireworks and the ringing of bells.