4th to 7th April, Burial of the Sardine, Murcia

Entierro de la Sardina, The Burial of the Sardine, Murcia.

The Entierro de la Sardine in Murcia follows on from the Fiestas de la Primavera  which take place from Sunday 31st March to Wednesday the 3rd April and is a riotous fiesta which celebrates the arrival of Spring with music, noise and and parades.

Read the report prepared last year after the main parade to see what an unusual night out this is, Click Burial of the Sardine

The fiestas date back to the mid 19th century when a group of well-to-do young students decided to carry out a celebration similar to those which they had seen in Madrid, part of which was the ceremonial death of the sardine, including the reading of his last will and testament.

It sounds quite an extraordinary concept to our English ears, but celebrations involving the burial or burning of a sardine are quite commonplace in Spain, the burning of a figure with its roots in pagan celebrations, subsequently adopted by other cultures including the Romans, symbolizing an act of cleansing.

Burning of the old allows the growth of the new and is a process of regeneration and liberation, and burning a figure at the end of a festival allows order to be restored following the temporary subversion of order during the festival.
Which put in ordinary language means that virtually anything goes during the riotous days of partying and carnival atmosphere as long as everything is put right by this one act at the end of it all.

This week in Murcia there are several parades, concerts and of course, in true Murcian style, lots of food and drink.
The Barracas , ( outdoor tapas gardens) opened for the Bando de la Huerta stay open during normal eating hours and are located in virtually every green garden and park space throughout the city.

The biggest ones are in the Jardines de Malecon and the Jardines Cruz Roja, which are all along the river bank areas. They all serve excellent tapas and drinks- dont be shy just wander in and sit down. The first time we went along to this event we went up and down looking for another ex-pat face, unsure of whether the garden areas were private areas or if anyone could go in, and once having plucked up courage and gone in, had a wonderful tapas experience. It´s now been explained that each of the peñas run one of these "tapas gardens" to raise funds for their own activities, and anyone is welcome to go in and eat.

If your Spanish is a little on the rusty side, see what everyone else is eating, and just point to what you like the look of and if you dont know what the names on the menu mean, try half a dozen things, theyre all very inexpensive, and make sure to only order one portion of each, as the waiters are quite likely to bring a portion of each ítem for each person, so be careful.

One of the daily Spanish papers wrote a report last year about the opening of the barracas on Sunday and was quite entertained by the fact that foreigners were wandering up and down looking as though they didn´t know what was going on. It´s often difficult to explain to a native murcian that in the UK, we A, Don´t have tapas so have no idea what any of the items on the menu actually are, B, Most of us don´t speak a word of spanish so have absolutely no idea what is going on, C, don´t have fiestas so have no idea why people are wandering around dressed as murcian farmers, and D, had probably gone into Murcia to see Semana Santa and were totally mystified to see all this going on in the first place.

Its a great way to discover the different tapas available in Murcia and good fun, the atmosphere is busy and bustling, and therell be babes in pushchairs out at 1am with their grandparents, all enjoying the atmosphere.

This year there is a marquee in the Artillery Cuartel, which is the collection of large pink buildings on the opposite side of the river from the Gardens of Malecon, serving a different style of tapas, with music and entertainment also on offer.
The main groups who participate in this fiesta are called the Sardineros, and at their head are El Gran Pez and Dona Sardina, the Big fish (King) and (Mrs sardine) Queen of the celebration, who take part in many of the symbolic acts of this week.

The Sardineros ( the groups and people participating) all have mythological  names, so youll see Vulcano, Neptuno, Ulises, Eros, and Herculo throughout the week, their floats echoing their names.

There are parades on the Thursday and Friday nights, but the big one and the burning of the sardine is on the Saturday night. There are a few bits and bobs happening on the Sunday as family entertainment, but its pretty much all over by Saturday night. If you´ve never been into Murcia for this event, go on the Saturday night, it´s madness.

Enormous fantastical floats, like pink glittering ships with grotesque statues and soaring figures parade through the streets, guarded by torchbearing figures, their faces masked, lit torches in their hands. The torches are there for a very good reason, as the floats are under constant attack from the public, as they´re loaded to the roof with toys, sweets and goodies which are flung to the crowds, in some cases cannoned into the crowds, the poof of air cannons filling the night as confetti and footballs are propelled out into the screaming masses. It´s beyond belief as youngsters run around with enormous carrier bags picking up anything they can get hold of, the torchbearers holding them back so they don´t run under the moving floats. It has to be seen to be believed!

This year the sardineros have done their best to maintain the volumen of goodies and scale of the celebrations, although budgetary constraints may lead to slightly less extravagant components in the main parade, but it’ll still be a big parade regardless.

Orientation: Driving into Murcia from the ring road, take the exit Murcia Central straight down along the river bank. On the right hand side are the gardens of Malecón and the tapas barracas. There is one underground car park on the left hand next to the Veronicas market: a U-turn can be done in front of the first bridge. Carry on and the second underground car park is on the right hand side, opposite the town hall. The área in front of the town hall is the Glorieta, where some of the events shown below take place. Behind this is Plaza Belluga, in front of the Cathedral, another name mentioned below. Walk into Plaza Belluga and the tourist office is on the left hand side, a good place to pick up a map. Walk to the front of the Cathedral and turn left and this leads up to Plaza Santo Domingo, another place mentioned below. The main parade passes across the old bridge, just opposite the Town Hall. Be warned, it can be difficult to park on the night of the parade, so another useful place to know about is the free car park behind the gardens of Malecon: just turn right at the first opportunity and follow the slip road alongside the gardens to the right. Be warned, it’s normal to be hassled for “parking money” by the gangs of lads who will not look after your car even if paid and there is more chance of vehicles being broken into here than in a car park, but the choice is yours to make, it’s an option.Allow plenty of time if planning to go in fro the burial of the sardine as it’s pretty chaotic.

Fiestas of the Burial of the Sardine
Thursday 4th April
12.00pm- Glorieta de España. Puppet show, Los Claveles Teatro presents“Miau, Guau, Kikiriki”.
Free to view
6.00pm- Avda. de la Libertad. Arrival of the sardine from Ceutí.
8.00pm- Glorieta de España, Puppet show. “Sáfora, un viaje a tus sentidos”.
Free entry
8.00pm Parade of the arrival of the sardine “La Llegada de la Sardina”.
Route: Avda. Gutiérrez Mellado, Alfonso X el Sabio, Jaime I, Plaza de la Fuensanta, Gran Vía Salzillo, Plaza Martínez Tornel to the Glorieta de España.
9.10pm- Pérgola de San Basilio. Competition of the tunas.
Performances by:  la Estudiantina Universitaria de Coimbra (Portugal), Tuna de Ciencias de Alicante, Tuna de Distrito de Granada, Tuna Universitaria de Salamanca, Tuna de Derecho de La Laguna (Tenerife), Tuna Universitaria de Oviedo and Tuna de la UNED de Elche.

Friday 5th April

12.00 Midday- Glorieta de España. Puppet show.
“El libro de los cuentos”.
Free entry
 
19.30 Pm Parade of the Testament of the sardine.      
Route: Pza. Belluga, Pza. Apóstoles,C/ Apóstoles, C/ Isidoro de la Cierva, Pza. Cetina, C/ Alejandro Séiquer, Pza. Sto. Domingo, C/ Santa Clara, C/ Maestro Alonso, Gran Vía Salzillo, Pza. Martínez Tornel and Glorieta de España.

20 pm.    Glorieta de España. Puppet show. “Sáfora, un viaje a tus sentidos”. Free to view.

21.00pm  Plaza de Toros. Concert by  de M-Clan. Organised by Estrella Levante. Ticket sale: Sala Musik (2,50 € with drink or wine).
21.30 pm Reading of the testament of the sardine  from the balcony of the Town Hall.

Saturday 6th April
13.00pm Parade of Doña Sardina: Pza. Belluga, C/ Salzillo, C/ Trapería, Pza. Sto. Domingo, Avda. Alfonso X el Sabio and Pza. Circular.

21.00pm Grand parade of the Burial of the sardine.  
Route: Avda. S. Juan de la Cruz, C/ Sta. Joaquina de Vedruna, C/ Princesa, C/ Alameda de Colón, Puente Viejo, Pza. Martínez Tornel, Gran Vía Salzillo, Pza. Fuensanta, Avda. Constitución, Pza. Circular, Avda. Primo de Rivera, Plaza Díez de Revenga, Avda. Ronda Norte and  Plaza de Castilla.
At around 1am and following the conclusión of the parade, the effigy of the sardine is burnt, followed by a grand firework display.
23.30 pm.   Plaza Martínez Tornel. Musical spectacular, waiting for the burning.


Sunday 7th April
12 Midday.  Glorieta de España. Puppet show. “La caja tonta”. Free to view.
12 horas. Pza. Santo Domingo. VII Festival of Street magic, with the participation of 4 well known magicians:  Alex, Charly, Dandy and Domingo Artés. Free entry.