Moors and Christians – Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos
Between the 21st and 24th April, Alcoy is dressed in its finery to celebrate the Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos in honor of its patron St. George. According to chronicles, on the 23rd April in 1276 the miraculous help of Sant Jordi saved Alcoy from attack by the armies of Al-Azraq, leader of the Moorish rebellion. Since then, Alcoy has celebrated various religious and popular festivals in honor of its savior.
The Apparition of Saint George
Alcoy was conquered by the Arabs in the middle of the thirteenth century but King James I annexed it to the Kingdom of Valencia. James I sent his stocking with 28 Christian settlers. However, the hosts of the Crescent had not yet said their last word.
Several groups of Arabic warriors were frightening the whole region with their frequent looting and attacks on Christian villages. For this reason James I sent 40 of his knights to defend Alcoy.
On the 23rd April, 1276 the Moors with their leader Al-Azraq (Arabic for “the Blue” because he had blue eyes) prepared to attack the village. Torregrossa Mossén, before the war, encouraged the troops and invoked the saint of the day at St. George.
During the attack, when all seemed lost for Christians, a gentleman appeared on the battlements of the castle on a white horse with a cross on his chest and caused heavy casualties on the side of the Crescent. Muslims identified him as Wali, holy warrior from their religion, and Christians as St. George or Sant Jordi (in Catalan).
From that day Alcoy’s patron is Saint George. Moreover, every year there is a feast in his honor.
The cult of St. George
Initially the festival of Sant Jordi was celebrated as a religious holiday but gradually other popular events such as competitions and musket firing crossbow were incorporated.
Thus in 1668, Vicente Carbonell wrote about some of the events held on the feast of the patron in his “Celebrity Century”. This is the first written reference to the Moors and Christians. A party handed down from father to son has survived to this day marked by the entrepreneurial and festive spirit of Alcoy, but without losing the religious nature of its beginnings.
The figure of St George, which was worshiped by the rest of the East and West Catholics, was the same everywhere: St. George and the dragon. This continued until the mid-nineteenth century.
The religious festival begins with the procession of the Transfer, where devotees move out the image of Sant Jordi “the Xicotet” from his temple to the church of Santa Maria. On the 18th, 19th and 20th April there is a solemn worship of the patron in the parish of Santa Maria called the Triduum. The 23rd of April is completely dedicated to the patron- the day of Sant Jordi.