Benissa will celebrate its Moors and Christians without captaincies or gunpowder

The expected return to normality in the holidays of Moors and Christians, will still have to wait another year in Benissa. The town is warming up to enjoy its celebrations in honor of San Pere again. The big days are concentrated from June 24 to 27. Some parties that, however, in this 2022, will be somewhat decaffeinated, but that are expected to be lived with the same enthusiasm as before the pandemic. And it is that this year the celebrations will not have captaincies, neither on the Moorish nor on the Christian side. And the arquebuses will not be able to be fired. The gunpowder It has been withdrawn from the program of events. Some decisions agreed by the Board of the Association of Moors and Christians, adapting to the current circumstances, as explained by the Councilor for Fiestas, Ximo Nadal.

On the one hand, the captaincies that should lead the festivities this year have not managed to raise enough money to face the traditional acts due to the evolution of the pandemic. Nadal remembers that in December and January we were at a peak of infections. It has not been possible to carry out sufficient activities with which to raise the money required to carry out a captaincy. For what the assembly has agreed to make the program of acts without captaincies. Quite a challenge, according to the mayor.

The other circumstance that disrupts the traditional program of the Moors and Christians festivities is the new regulations related to the use of gunpowder. Currently the regulations allow the storage of the explosive charge for a maximum of 72 hours before firing it. Nadal explains that the ammunition for the arquebuses was scheduled to arrive in Benissa on the 23rd, the Thursday before the party, as it was the 24th regional holiday. If the hours established by the regulations for the use of explosives are counted, the calculations do not come out. The acts planned in the second half of the festival program in which the shooting is carried out could not be carried out, because the 72 hours established by law are exceeded. The solution, the acts of musketry are withdrawn from the program.

previous acts

The big days of these festivities are concentrated from June 24 to 27, but tomorrow, Saturday, the 18th, the program of events begins with a concert of festive music that will take place in the Paceta de l'Església Vella at 7:30 p.m. At 10 pm a concentration of filaes and a brotherhood dinner are scheduled, which will be followed by the Scream Orchestra, in Plaza Rei Jaume I with bar service.

The sides of the cross and the crescent will not have captains to guide them in this year's festive battle, the streets will not smell of gunpowder, nor will the noise of the party resonate in every corner of the town, but the party will go out again on the street. Once the pandemic has been overcome, the desire to share this tradition, far from diminishing, has increased and despite the modifications to be applied to the program, Benissa will once again celebrate its Moors and Christians.