Valencia held its main 2009 Corpus Christi celebrations on Sunday, June 14th. If you like parades, followed by more parades, you’d have found paradise in the city today.
The first one got started at noon. Called the Cabalgata del Convite this was an extremely lively procession for a Sunday morning. There were various groups of characters performing dances; from 8 little shepherd boys, to a maypole dance, to the “momos” — a group of 7 demons representing the deadly sins who dance around a white, hooded figured. This lady in white is known as La Moma, and is probably the most emblematic character of Corpus Christi. She represents virtue.
But the fun really kicked into high gear as the parade’s final section arrived at Calle Cabillers and Avellanas. A club-wielding group of King Herod’s henchman threatened the crowd, reenacting everyone’s favorite biblical event — la degolla, or the slaughter of the innocents.
The crowd, though, would have its revenge. From every balcony, buckets of water rained down upon the henchmen (and anyone standing too close). It was insane fun, and if you happened to be on the street, there was no way to avoid getting a little wet. The henchmen loved it and howled for more… and we just tried to protect our camera! Good thing it was a hot, sunny day.
We’ll be posting shortly on the day’s other processions.
Tags: corpus christi, la moma, parades
Valencia
20°
Pappy Powell wrote,
Looks and sounds wonderful !! Better also book us for next year’s festival.
Link | June 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Paso de las Rocas – Corpus Christi in Valencia | Hola Valencia Blog wrote,
[...] Rocas is the 2nd of the Corpus Christi day parades, which were celebrated this year on June 14th. Click here to read our post about the first parade, the cabalgata del [...]
Link | June 21st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Valencia’s Corpus Christi 2009 | Hola Valencia Blog wrote,
[...] Cabalgata del Convite – At noon, a mounted procession winds its way around Plaza de la Reina up towards the Almoina. This cabalgata is famous for its dancing, and for the strange tradition of the degolla — literally, the throat-slitting. King Herod’s masked henchmen run riot through the streets, “killing” infants by tapping them on the head with a stick. Onlookers take revenge on them by splashing buckets of water from the balconies. (Seems fair enough: you kill my infant, I’ll make you wet!) A good place to watch this is on C/ Avellanas — it’s not to be missed. [...]
Link | February 4th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Corpus Christi 2010 wrote,
[...] cathedral. You say “concert”, I say “maddening cacophony”. 12:00 – Cabalgata del Convite. Really, if you see just one parade this year in Valencia, make it this one. With crazy costumes, [...]
Link | June 3rd, 2010 at 8:09 am