The Loreto fiestas present programme marked by commemorative events for 125th anniversary

Monday 15th August 2022 · Mike Smith
Source: Comisió Festes de la Mare de Déu de Loreto

The Comissió de Festes del Loreto has presented the official programme of the 2022 festivities honouring La Mare de Déu del Loreto, one full of symbolism in which the 125th anniversary of these festivities will be commemorated – a year late due to the Covid pandemic.

The presentation took place in front of the monument commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Loreto fiestas on Avenida Jaume I, and was attended by the president of the commission, Vicente Gavilá, the Councilor for Fiestas, Kika Mata, and the mayorales and mayoralesas of this year: Ana Sivera Sala, Julián Torres Aguilera, Francisco Cruañes Vañó, Carolina Marín Cholbi, Mabel Ivars Sánchez, María José Escrivá Cholbi, Francisco Marín Cholbi and Pilar Miralles García.

This year’s programme includes events designed for all ages. In such a special year in which the 125th anniversary of the patron saint festivities is commemorated, those that will serve to celebrate the event stand out and are expected to be grand moments since all the mayorales and mayoralesas in history have been invited to participate.

To highlight the importance of this anniversary, the Comissió de Festes has edited a documentary in which the residents themselves have narrated the evolution of the fiesta. It will be screened on Thursday 25th August on Calle Severo Ochoa. Two days later, 125 rockets will announce the beginning of the celebration just hours before proclaiming the mayorales and mayoralesas of this special edition. And then on Tuesday 30th August a commemorative parade has also been scheduled in which the representatives of the festival’s history will be the protagonists.

They will also participate in the float parade on Saturday 3rd September (one of the most participatory in recent editions), in the flower offering to the Mare de Déu de Loreto on September 6th and in the processions on September 7th and 8th.

Another detail with which this edition will be made special will be during the early hours of the 8th, since the port zone will welcome the patron saint’s big day with a special firework display that will illuminate the sky above.

There will be no shortage of the main and most popular dishes of these festivities, such as the bous a la mar and its sensational baret dels bous, an intense children’s day with games, fun and floats, acts full of fervor such as processions and masses and the spectacular firework display over the sea that closes the party.

The programme, as usual, also reserves a good space for sport, with Valencian pilota, the Penya La Bufa races and different chess, cycling or fishing competitions as well as charity events with acts such as the blood donation marathon in memory of Dionís Henarejos, and acts to promote brotherhood between neighborhoods -such as dinners, dances and a street decoration contest- and between the peñas.

The detailed program can be found in the Fiesta Book, a publication that, in addition to the purely festive part – which includes all the information corresponding to this year’s edition and a multitude of references to the history of the festival and its evolution closely linked to that of Duanes de la Mar– is a benchmark for its cultural part.

This year it there are up to 25 articles that deal with history, local cultural and artistic heritage and present local people whose personality and legacy are incalculable. They highlight the extensive report on the archaeological findings made in the underwater environment of Portitxol as well as the text on the expedition sent to Xàbia from the court of King Carlos III in order to learn about the fishing arts and techniques that were practiced in the municipality. There are also, among others, those dedicated to the philosopher, politician and poet from Xàbia Ramón de Campoamor; Magdalena Marí and the Benavent trade. In these two parts a series of special obituaries are made to the memory of Antonio Erades, Francisco Pastor, Manolo Llidó, Ramona Fernández de Palencia, Antoni Sesé and Esperanza Salvatierra, those who have died in these two years of pandemic.

In the official presentation of the festival, both the president of the commission and the councilor for Fiestas have encouraged the entire population and visitors to participate in the intense agenda of fun proposed by the Loreto festivities, more anticipated than ever after the two-year hiatus due to the pandemic and the illusion of celebrating its 125th anniversary.