Fiestas San Roque, Narila 2009

Like Pitres, Narila also pays tribute to San Roque. As this is a village only a few hundred metres lower down in the valley, we will be able to hear the music of the band and of the verbena musical at El Paraje. This morning we picked up a programme of the San Roque festivities at the town hall of Cádiar.

Fiestas Patronales San Roque, Pitres 2009

San Roque is the patron saint of many villages and cities throughout the world. Although this is not mentioned in the text of the life of Saint Roch on Wikipedia, this French saint is also the santo patrón of Pitres. The festivities in this vilage in his honour, will take place from the 11th to the 18th of August. This is the weekend programme of the ´Fiestas Patronalers en honor a San Roque en Pitres 2009

¡Viva Santo Cristo!

Last weekend Alcútar celebrated its ´fiestas patronales´. The patron saint of this village is ´El Santísimo Cristo de la Misericordia´, whose carving can be seen hanging above the central altar of the village church throughout the year. For the celebrations it is taken down and placed on a portable platform with candles and red carnations. On Saturday evening about fifteen men from the village lifted the image up an carried it out of the church while the band was playing the announcement with impressive drumbeats. While one of the assistents exclaimed ¡viva Santo Cristo!, this was repeated by the ´alcuteros´ and ´berchulers´ with great fervour. After this the carving was taken through the small steep streets of Alcútar followed by the band and the faithful villagers carrying candles. After two hours the ´costaleros´ or carriers arrived back at the church exhausted. This is no wonder as the total weight is about a thousand kilos and they sometimes needed to almost go down on their knees to be able to pass underneath the ´tinaos´. The procession was followed by music and dancing until dawn. On Sunday a lot of activities were organized and there was paella for everybody in the afternoon. On Sunday evening the carving was hung back above the altar with all due ceremony. Blessed red carnations were handed down for people to take home. The music of the band playing inside the church was impressive and moving. We therefore encourage everybody to attend the ´subida del Santo Cristo´ when they have a change. The fiestas in Alcútar in his honour, are always celebrated the second weekend of August.

Música en las Montañas 2009, an intimate concert in Atalbéitar

Yesterday we assisted one of the concerts of the programme Música en las Montañas. On the Plaza de Atalbéitar, Boris played the violin and clarinet and Frank the accordeon. They played, amongst others, klezmer - traditional jewish folk music - and Argentinian tangos. They created with their music a fairy-tale athmosphere on the village square of this tiny little village. Tonight they will play at 22.00 hours in the larger town of Pitres which we can see on the programme that the Alexander Music School recenlty published on their website. On Youtube you can see a video of their performance in 2008 in Ferreirola with the same intimate atmosphere.

Fires in the valley between Narila and Alcútar

A fire broke out at 02.30 hours in the morning of the 29th of July between Narila and Alcútar. Fire brigades worked two and a half days to try to control this fire, but it started at least three times after it seemed to be under control. Another fire broke out again yesterday afternoon. This time closer to Alcútar. Sixty families needed to be evacuated as many houses got filled with smoke. As mentioned in the article in the Ideal digital newspaper, Infoca used all possible resources by way of precaution, because of the difficulty of the terrain. Fortunately there are as far as we know, no casualties or personal injuries. About half a dozen fincas have been affected, an animal farm and some cultivated terrains. A valuable wooded area with old trees near the fuente agria of Narila got lost and guests saw how some bee hives exploded. At ´El Paraje´ we did have our moments of nervousness, but luckily the fire did not get very close. We admire the work of the fire fighters as we could see how very difficult the approach routes were for the helicopters and aeroplanes. The causes of the fires are still being investigated.