The eve of Corpus Christi in Valencia

In addition to the parade of the Cirialots, other striking public performances take place before the procession of the Blessed Sacrament in Valencia. One of these is the cabalgada (parade with horses), whose origins goes back to the beginning of the sixteenth century. The holding of such a ceremony has not been constant. Since 1977, however, it has been re-inserted firmly in the Valencian festive calendar in the form in which it was held at the end of the eighteenth century. The cabalgada is the ceremony in which in the name of the city authorities the Capellán de Las Rocas (the cleric charged in the past to keep the objects of the festival placed in the Casa de Las Rocas) invites citizens to participate in the procession of Corpus Christi which will be held in the evening. For this reason, the procession with horses is also called Convite (invitation, announcement). During this procession, along with dances (the most interesting is certainly the Moma) and the Dwarfs, other living characters stage the Mysteries: The Mystery of Saint Christopher, the Mystery of Adam and Eve and, finally, the mystery of Herod. In this last representation a central role is played by the Degolla: the guard of Herod entrusted with the slaughter of the innocents. In the past, the infamous role of Degolla, which was staged by striking bystanders with clubs, and the equally energetic reactions of the public, led to the suppression of this Mystery. The procession of the Giants and the Rocas precede the Corpus procession (the splendid wagons that follow the path of the Blessed Sacrament through the city streets).

Dwarfs also participate in the preamble to the rich and evocative Corpus Christi procession in Valencia (3 pairs of large heads which embody Asia, Africa and America, with corresponding appearances turcos, moros and negros) and Giants (4 pairs of giants – Espagnoles, Turcos, Gitanos, Negros – representing the continents known at the time when the feast was founded, and a couple dressed in Valencian costume). We also find the caballets or morets: eight children dressed as Moors who wear a costume shaped like a horse made of cardboard and cloth as a lifesaver (also present in the main feast of Barcelona, in France and Belgium are known as the chevals-jupon). As in neighbouring Barcelona, Valencia’s gigantic heritage also includes many zoomorphic figures. In addition to the three eagles (the largest is an allegory of Saint John the Evangelist), in fact, there are more traditional depiction of the Dragon: the mythical Tarasca (a giant hybrid zoomorphic tamed, according to legend, due to the miraculous intervention of Santa Marta of Bethany), El Drac (who paraded with his opponent Saint George), the Cuca Fera (a monster in the shape of a turtle, associated with the figure of Saint Margaret, by reason of the fact that tradition attributes to the latter the gutting of the devil in the form of a dragon). Of particular interest, in addition to the unusual presence of a float depicting the boat of Saint Nicholas (the patron saint of sailors), is undoubtedly the participation of the puppet of Saint Christopher in the Valencian parade, one of the giants of the oldest Spanish tradition, present in Spain from the early medieval ceremonies of Corpus Christi.