Alicante - Event

The Moors and Christians Festival is one of the major celebrations in Alicante's calendar, a mixture of religion, history and street carnival. Battle re-enactments take place throughout different city districts at different times of the year.

The festival is celebrated throughout this part of Spain, but each place has its own peculiarities. In Alicante it all starts with dianas waking the people up in the morning. They head to the centre of town and await the entradas, the arrival of the Moors and the Christians, as they march through the streets dressed in period costume.

What follows is a re-enactment of battles and dialogue between the Moors and the Christians, acted out by various companies (filaes). The festivities end with the informal and comic retreats. Each filae has its retreat, the kábila for the Moors and the cuartel for the Christians, where a great deal of eating and drinking takes place.

The festival takes place in different areas of the city, but at different times: 18-22 March in Villafranqueza; 11-15 June in San Blas; 2-5 July in Rebolledo; 12-16 August in Altozano; 28-31 August in José Antonio. On the evening of the 6 December, there is a big parade through the centre in honour of the city's Patron Saint, San Nicolás.