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Date Published: 18/05/2022

ARCHIVED - Murcia takes the Entierro de la Sardina on tour to Genoa, Italy

The Italian city, twinned with Murcia since the end of last year, will enjoy the Burial of the Sardine festival this Saturday

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Murcia takes the Entierro de la Sardina on tour to Genoa, Italy

Since the end of last year, Murcia capital has been twinned with the city of Genoa in Italy, and to celebrate this union, Murcia is taking its famous, wacky ‘Entierro de la Sardina’ or Burial of the Sardine festival to the Italian city.

Murcia once again put on the Entierro de la Sardina in 2022 after two years in which Covid made it impossible to celebrate. This spring, though, 2,000 people joined in the parades and colourful processions and the joy is being shared with Genoa this Saturday, on May 21.

Genoa, the capital of Liguria and the sixth most populous city in the country, will see 400 people take part in its own version of the Burial of the Sardine (‘il Funerale della Sardina’) and which will include, as well as the usual burning of the sardine model, a parade featuring ten entertainment groups, four large floats and a million toys which will be distributed to the local children.

The twinning between Murcia and Genoa was made official at the end of 2021, but it’s actually something that has been going on for centuries. The important commercial links that arose between both cities thanks to the Silk Road.

Pedro García Rex, Murcia’s Councillor for Culture, Tourism and Sports, said that the intention behind holding the festival again in Genoa is “to amaze the Italians and make them curious to know more about Murcia.”

"We are Mediterranean, we have similar characters, we are united by history and we share cultural roots, as well as tastes, traditions and customs", said Pedro García Rex in reference to the relationship between Murcia and Genoa, which will enjoy next week.

What is the Burial of the Sardine?

The Entierro de la Sardina is the final day of Murcia’s Spring Festival, when a million Murcianos take to the streets to enjoy one of the most important and renowned parades in Spain. Giants and big-heads, dancers and marching bands all form an important part of the festivities, as do music, fire, light and colour. The highlight of the festivities comes with the parade of the sardine floats, the real stars of a magical night (apart from the main Sardine).

The culmination of the festivities, in the early hours of the morning, is the Burning of the Sardine, in which the Murcian spring night is only illuminated thanks to the ‘purifying fire’ around which hundreds of people gather to watch the statue being burned. Music and gunpowder create an exciting atmosphere with which Murcians and tourists say goodbye to the sardine every year.

It is tradition for people to walk around the sardine while it is burning, waving their handkerchiefs and throwing their hats into the bonfire.

In Genoa this month, 25 entertainment groups will put on amusing parades and shows as an attraction for the big event of the evening, while over a million toys have been transported over from Murcia for the Italian children.

Image: Archive

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