A colourful Springtime Festival
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| Seville 1915 |
The May Crosses Festival is probably one of the most interesting festivals, not only today, but in historical terms. As legend has it, St Constantine's mother, the much-venerated St Helen, is the founder of this festival, which shows special respect for the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.
As the story goes, in the fourth century AD, St Helen went to Jerusalem in search of the cross, after her son Constantine dreamed of a cross that would help him win a battle he was losing at the time. He ordered his troops to build him a large cross, which they then carried into battle and conquered their enemy. This inspired a family conversion to Christianity and a search for the real cross, led by St Helen. She found three crosses, and to establish which one was authentic, she carried out tests to see which could perform miracles. Only one of them did, healing the sick and even bringing the dead back to life. St Helen then became a champion for the cross, urging people to continue worshiping even after her death.
And so this veneration of the cross is the motive for the May Crosses Festivals that are celebrated in so many countries.
It´s not clear how this festival, traditionally celebrated on 3rd May, originated in Spain, but clearly the Pagan May Day celebrations must have had some influence as that was also a festival of flowers in May. The festivities in May certainly date back to Roman times.
In Andalusia you can find crosses in all of the provinces, especially in Almeria, Granada and Cordoba but this tradition spreads across all of Spain and even in some South American countries too.
In Malaga and in Almeria the crosses are located in places around the city centre. In some larger towns there can be over 40 different ones to see. They are easy to locate as there are always people around them.
In Cádiz the crosses are celebrated with evening verbenas and often patios are decorated in flowers also in nearby El Puerto de Santa María across the water. The Cruz de Mayo of San Pedro in Huelva is notable but there are others in Huelva province such as Rociana del Condado or in Bonares.
In Seville the festival is celebrated and in nearby Ecija where the children carry crosses along in processions.
In Cordoba, the Crosses of May celebration is combined with the 'Cordoba Patios' competition. Usually 25 crosses take part and over 50 patios are decorated with ceramic painted plant pots and brightly coloured geraniums and spring flowers. In 2012 the festival runs from 2nd to 13th of May.
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| A Cordoba Patio |
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| A Cross in Cordoba |
The
crosses are usually quite big and are decorated with red or white carnations or
a perhaps a mixture of flowers. They also include local ceramics,
embroidered shawls, shiny copper pots, candles and anything representing the
local traditions, they all adorn the area around the cross to provide an eye
catching display.
You will notice that they normally include at the bottom of the display an apple with scissors sticking out of it. This is so that no one can say, it´s really nice but they could have….. The explanation behind this is that the apple is also known as ´pero´ in Granada slang which means 'but' in Spanish. The scissors are cutting the buts out, there are no buts so people can't criticise the display.
In Granada there is a real following for this festival, it used to be a local holiday until a few years ago. Last year the city had 64 crosses set up around the different squares and patios. There are also events happening for a few days before and after the 3rd of May. A competition is run by the town hall for the best cross display. There are also decorated balconies that are awarded prizes too. There are often culinary activities and of course there is dancing and singing too. The Albaicin and Realejo are both good areas to see the crosses.
Sometimes you see children dressed in typical Andalusian dress with a cross. Boys wear striped trousers, braces and a cummerband and a Cordobes hat, girls wear flamenco dresses with flowers in their hair. They ask for money (like penny for the guy in UK on bonfire night) they say Give me a Chavico for the cross, the chavico is an old name for a small coin at the beginning of the 1900’s.
In Granada city there used to be a temporary bar set up near to the Cross by each group of neighbours but a few years ago this was regulated by the authorities and drinking on the street isnt allowed now during the week of the crosses festival. There is still a busy atmosphere around the city with people having tapas and beers while walking around to see the crosses displayed around the city. Below is a video of typical dancing and singing from last years event outside the town hall.
Other places to check out the crosses in Granada are Armilla which is just outside the city to the south, Baza, Almuñécar and Motril.
In Motril which is a sea port, the festivities coincide with the Feria Chica (Little fair) and are declared of National Touristic interest. The local band was playing in Motril centre on Friday afternoon. Sadly today, Sunday, the sky is grey and it has been raining all day so celebrations have been washed out for this year but then, we really did need this rain.
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| Motril 2011 |
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| Motril 2011 |
In Pinos de Valle in the Valley of Lecrin, they celebrate a week of fiesta for the Crosses of May, they are dedicated to Santo Cristo del Zapato, Christ Saint of the Shoe.
The celebrations include activities for children, firework displays, bike rides and chocolate with churros. Then there is dancing in the evenings in the village square, great if you like to dance tango or the Paso doble. On main festival day they make a huge Paella for all the neighbours probably over 1200 people and everyone has lunch together outside.
There are processions around the village with a marching band and majorettes. Cars and tractors pulling carriages decorated with crosses and flowers make up part of the procession. The women wear flamenco dresses and it´s a colourful display to see, welcoming the Spanish Springtime.
Often there are firework displays to end the weeks festivities but in the daytime, to accompany the processions, there are often bangers or rockets to make sure you know that there is something going on.
