Once a year, in the week after Easter, something special happens in Murcia.
The city celebrates the festival “Entierro de La Sardina”, the Burial of the Sardine. Saturday evening is the great parade before the sardine undergoes a cremation. This is the highlight of the celebrations.
The Gran Via del Escultor Francisco Salzillo is already populated by many people when we arrive at the agreed place. Many mobile vendors with their stalls are still on the road and children play on the street.
A police car announces the parade. After the vehicles of the sponsors, many young people distribute plastic bags for the gimmicks and other presents which will be distributed later.
For promotional purposes even drive two huge tractors and electric bikes along the road.
An old VW bus and a group of young women on stilts in the style of hippies advertise a large disco in the area. Presumably, they also sponsor the parade.
A unit of the police and a delegation of a military academy for air combat now open the actual parade.
Flag bearers and bands followed, until suddenly the groups from Bolivia “Bolivia and Carro de Refrescos 4 and Mr. Paco y Tomy”, already well known to us, appeared.
A colorful spectrum of dance groups, bands, samba drummers, fairy tale and comic figures, giant dolls for which Spain is well known, stilt walkers, Mad Max imitators on motorcycles, space imitations and giant animals follow.
What impresses us the most is an artist, hanging on dozens of gas balloons, at dizzy heights, while carrying out her artistic exercises on a tire.
Others float on fantasy birds.
Please watch the 4K UHD video of the parade
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More InformationSome models show body painting. We wonder whether the cars have a heating because the young women hardly move and it is relatively cold.
After the undead, an oversize Einstein appears.
Of course, the sardine which forms the completion of the parade must not be missing. Then follow the big parade cars, which we will show in the following video.
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More InformationAt this point, we would like to describe our impressions of the audience. The people were very disciplined. Nowhere alcohol could be seen and there was no rioting or anything like that all week, although there was hardly any police except for the surveillance of the barriers and traffic control.
The children were also very peaceful. Even in the middle of the night, you did not notice any impatience by the kids. The Spaniards seem to have a wonderful relationship with children.
The city administration has also done a fantastic job. Besides the organization of the festivities, the regulatory framework worked perfectly.
The next morning, one had dismantled all seats and the street cleaning swept all the streets and cleared of the garbage as if the parade had never taken place. And all this with 900,000 spectators on this day.
Please read on > Entierro de La Sardina
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Disclosure: We attended the Festival Entierro de la Sardina on invitation of Daniel Robles. Thank you! All opinions are, as always, our own.
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