A. Rodriguez Bernabéu
In the square, in front of the church, a crowd is rushing to join the procession. It's the big day, the 23 of April, feast of Saint George and in honor of the Holy Knight a very solemn, and like the cross that starts it, it has already come out, Comparsas, Music bands and all kinds of people try to join creating a little confusion in which the most bulky instruments that the musicians raise above their heads stand out. The last shouts of the candle sellers are still being heard offering their merchandise wrapped in strips of blue paper. Down street, very slowly, the courtship begins; down the center of the street, formed according to the width or narrowness of the same, The comparsas; first the Moorish Band; then the Christian.
The itinerary does not allow a showy parade at the beginning; the streets are narrow, uneven, short; streets laid on the slope of the mound that culminates the Castle, streets with a peaceful atmosphere that transcend the peace of home and the joy of work, of whitewashed houses on whose balconies the candid display of the blanket, framed by the lights, displayed in honor of the Saint. And at the door, open wide, some resident who due to ailments cannot join the Procession, contemplate its passage with nostalgia and recollection. But, al fin, the procession enters the Highway ...
Already the squads of the Comparsas display in a row all the multicolored fanfare of their colorful costumes with the finishing of the graceful feathers of the Los Moros turban, or of first-time flowers in the hood of the Labradors and all wearing the characteristic utensils or emblems of their comparsas: farm implements, extraordinary pencils and pens the tunos and sopistas Students, shields, slices, swords the Christians and the Moorish spenders with their bushy beards and classic ferraments on the back; all martially and collectively, feathers in the wind, the flowers and the capes in the wind the solemn compasses of noble compositions, they parade lightly rocking the figure down the wide street that houses one half of the silent procession.
Silent? In the stillness of the spring night in a crescent moon, intensely scented by the new shoots of the neighboring sierra, explodes, suddenly a chorus of energetic and resounding voices - all the energy and strength that faith communicates- that with a unanimous and progressive clamor they break the calm and peaceful silence by throwing up the “Vítol al Patró Sant Jordi, Vítol ”. Like a dove that flies in an arc, transcends and the cry is heard, and more than in the senses we perceive it in the heart because that is where it resonates. Traditional festivals of Bañeres, of peculiar shades and different from all: Dispossession, the memory in the Cemetery to those who are already only in thought, and the Procession: solemne and intimate, austere and colorful, silent and sonorous when the joyous Vítol al Patró Sant Jordi explodes. No; There is nothing like it that fills our feeling in a more innocent and pure way; no chants, no lights and fireworks, nor arches and walls, that this simple and spontaneous Vítol that resounds in the wide street with the emotionality of a simple offering.
Towards the end of the street it is a great pleasure to contemplate the unforgettable show that is offered: the double row of candles framing the bizarreness of the Squads and in the distance the gallant figure of the Holy Knight with the canopy of the flags of all the Comparsas. For the last time we look back at the dessert attempt to retain the beautiful and magnificent display, The colorful, the light, the martiality and the recollection of the most emotional and beautiful act of the Festival. And before turning the corner - I walk to the Church- the joyful cry of a "Vítol al Patró Sant Jordi" reaches us clearly and precisely.
In that place that in the heart we have destined for fond memories, a prominent figure, greedily guarded, the imperishable and unforgettable processional parade down the wide and long street that I experienced for the first time on April 23, fifteen years ago.
