22/08/2008

III Festival de las Tres Culturas

We fly back to Spain next Tuesday, just in time for the Festival of Three Cultures which starts in the village on 28th August. Frigiliana is a village which dates back to Moorish times, and which was the site of the final battle in 1569 between the Morisco population (Muslims who had - often forcibly - converted to Christianity after the Reconquest) and the Christian armies reinforced by troops sent by the pope from Italy. Before this date, Muslims, Jews and Christians had lived harmoniously together in this region for several hundred years. The festival, inaugurated three years ago, celebrates this fact and argues that what happened here in centuries gone by could happen again worldwide today.

Culture and tradition are very important to the people of Frigiliana as a visit to its website will show. Although the year-round population is only about two and a half thousand people, each fiesta sees the streets crowded with eager participants.

I've not managed to be here for the previous Three Cultures Festivals, so I'll save comments on what happens until I've actually experienced it for myself.

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