Party with controversy: Spain’s festival of Moors and Christians

Elda, Spain – With a fake plastic animal skull and long black feathers in her headdress, Cristina Morcilla holds a spear and looks like she’s going into battle for an African tribe.

During the day she works in an import-export company, but tonight she is dressed for the festival of Moros y Cristianos, Spanish for Moors and Christians, which celebrates the reconquest of Iberia by Christian armies from Arab troops more than 500 years ago. .

Once a year, the streets of Elda, a town of about 50,000 people best known for making women’s shoes, are transformed into a cross between a medieval drama and a huge costume party.

Like many other cities in southeastern Spain, Elda marks the battles of the past with a 21st century festival.

Arab rulers dominated almost all of the Iberian Peninsula for about 700 years and contemporary links to this historical chapter abound, from place names or words in modern Spanish.

The four-day procession in Elda includes groups divided into Moors and Christians who march through the streets dressed in elaborate costumes to the sound of thumping bands.

On the final day, there is a sham of reconquest when Christians reclaim Elda from its Arab rulers.

A huge plastic castle takes the place of Elda Castle, which is in ruins.

The crowd dresses up in yellow or red pay pants and colorful tunics.

No offense

Cristina Morcilla says it’s just an excuse for a party, something Spaniards love.

“This is about a party. This has nothing to do with insulting Muslims or Moroccans. I don’t think people are offended by the party,” she told Al Jazeera from behind her mask.

Brandishing a gun and wearing a bit of white and yellow makeup, Juanjo Verdu-Martinez is dressed in a flamboyant white corsair costume because he’s supposed to be a pirate.

“This cost me about 600 euros [$643] for rent, but we do this once a year and it’s important to us. Thousands of people come for a night out or to participate. I don’t think it has much to do with history, but people just want to have fun,” Verdu-Martinez, 17, a high school student, told Al Jazeera.

The Reconquista – or Reconquest – is known in Spain as a period of history that covers the military campaigns of Christian kingdoms against the Moors, a term applied to Arabs, North African Berbers and European Muslims, from the eighth century to 1492 .

It began with the Battle of Covadonga in 718 or 722, in which an Asturian army won the first Christian victory in 1492 with the fall of the Nasrid kingdom in Granada to the Spanish Crown of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Castile.

Controversy

The festival is not without controversy, as the word moro is seen as an insult by some of Spain’s sizeable Muslim population for referring to someone from North Africa.

Moroccans are the largest group of foreigners, with more than 872,000 citizens, according to figures from the Spanish government for 2021.

In the huge parade, some of the troops portray Moors wearing “blackface” makeup along with their exotic costumes.

The organizers deny that this is racist and insist that makeup is only used to portray Africans who lived in the Arab kingdom.

Pedro Serrano, president of the Moors and Christians organizing the festival in Elda, said that despite the black face makeup, the festival was “inclusive”.

“We welcome all parts of the community. This makeup is only used to depict black people who were part of the Moorish community,” he told Al Jazeera.

Younger members of the small Muslim community take part in the parades.

Aziz Masdour, who runs the Annor Halal butcher shop in Elda, said Muslims in the town were not offended by the use of the term moro.

“For us it is a festival. Everyone enjoys themselves and comes into my store and spends a lot of money. I’m happy,” he told Al Jazeera.

Last year, the festival in the Alicante town of Orihuela was criticized as racist because black people pulled a carriage in which the Moorish ambassador – or leader – was white.

Marta Guillen, a former council member, said on Twitter: “I can’t believe what I’m seeing in Orihuela.”

You cannot get credit if you receive the pasar in Orihuela. The embajador-moro has defiled an auto-porteada through personas negras. pic.twitter.com/OMcGVjJwof

— Marta (@_marguillen) July 16, 2022

Seized as a war of liberation during the rise of Spanish nationalism in the 19th century, the Reconquista was used as a symbol of Spanish state-building during General Francisco Franco’s long dictatorship between 1939 and 1975.

Now the far-right Vox party, the third largest in Spain’s parliament, is using it for political purposes, calling on Spaniards to cherish the glories of the past.

Culture wars like this could become a reality for modern Spaniards as Vox is poised to play kingmaker in the July 23 snap general election.

The moderate-conservative People’s Party is likely to win the most votes, he said published an opinion poll by the newspaper El Pais on Monday, but will probably also have to make a pact with Vox to rule.

Back in Elda, each faction is divided into factions, including the Moors, Christians, Moroccans, Gypsies, and Pirates.

Makeup artists like Rosanna Aroca spend two hours a day transforming 15 men into Moors with red, white and black faces.

Elda, like dozens of other cities in southeastern Spain, spends an entire year planning this celebration, which the organizers say bears little resemblance to the bloody battles of the Middle Ages.

Pepe Blanes, a historian of the Moors and Christian Festival in Elda, said the festival began in the Valencia, Alicante and Albacete region in the 19th century.

“In the era of Romanticism in the 19th century, these parties started when people looked to the past. They watched the Reconquista, but the party has little to do with what actually happened during those wars,” he said.

“Until the great mistake of expelling the Muslims after 1492, life in Spain was one of Christians and Muslims living together.”

Blanes admitted that the party was controversial at times.

“The word moro can be disrespectful to people from North Africa or Morocco, but that is not the case with the festivals of Moors and Christians,” he said.

Following the 2015 attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which killed 12 people, organizers of the Alicante-area Moros y Cristianos festival met with local imams to gauge their feelings.

Muslim leaders said the festivities did not cause offense.

“This is not a religious or historical celebration, this is about living together. It is a privilege to be part of the Moors group in the party. It’s a great celebration to move forward,” said Blanes.