Newspaper Information, Digital edition – M.Vicedo
Banyeres closed yesterday the Moors and Christians Festival in honor of Saint George with an emotional tribute to the deceased in the cemetery. A singular act in which the festeros fire musket salutes to remember their absent relatives and friends. further, The fact that this year it coincided on a Sunday led to a massive attendance at this meeting. already in the afternoon, and to put the final period, the captains of the Moorish and Christian side were appointed for the year 2011.
like every 25 of April, day of the christ, the festeros make an emotional memory in the cemetery to their relatives and friends who are no longer there and they do it by shooting salutes from arquebus, first collectively and then individually. But the origin of this act dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.. And it is that according to what Jorge Enrique Esteve told this newspaper, vice president of the Cofradía de Sant Jordi, The origin of this singular act comes from when the “soldiery”, “where the residents of the town came to the cemetery to honor their fallen in the war”. Specifically, it dates back to 1921 when a family from this town “he had a misfortune of his own: their son died 7 years”, Esteve pointed out. From there his parents began to perform a mass in memory of their son and their deceased. A religious service that was also joined by the comparsa of this family that was also a party. Over the years this act took root to the point that in the years 70, the family gives the rights to the town so that the neighbors celebrate the mass, every 25 April and “Now this family celebrates its own Eucharist in memory of their deceased on 1 of May”, pointed out the vice president of the brotherhood.
From early in the morning the Christian comparsas were arriving and then the Moors, that in formation fired the salutes. After, every party, in a personal capacity, he went to the graves of his loved ones to dedicate a salute to them. These musket shots preceded the mass “it was crowded and full of emotion”, highlighted the councilor for Fiestas, Vincent Terol.
after the eucharist, the new captains signed the Golden Book of Santo Cristo. Then the “dispossession” or the conversion of the Moor to Christianity. already in the afternoon, All that remained was the official act of the uprising of the captains of the comparsas that will be the protagonists of the Fiestas de 2011. Some festivities that will change dates, since next year the 24 April will be Easter Sunday. That is to say, Due to Holy Week, the celebration of the Moors and Christians is delayed, which will be of the 29 from april to 2 of May.
Waiting for the Consell to decide on the declaration as BIC
This population of Mariola is waiting for the Generalitat, through the Ministry of Culture, decide on whether it is finally going to be declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) this festive act of the cemetery or not. As we have been informing you, A few weeks ago, the Culture Council issued a favorable report so that the event in tribute to the deceased has this distinction. Now, It is the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage that must take the definitive step. for now “we're waiting”, said the mayor of Fiestas, Vincent Terol. In this sense, it should be remembered that last year the Banyeres City Council, with the support of a hundred local entities, asked Culture to declare a Cultural Asset of Interest (BIC) in the immaterial category this tribute to the deceased, but the autonomous entity rejected this request arguing that the act did not meet all the requirements, hence it is now an Asset of Local Relevance.
