The dances

The chiming of the bells on the first September is greeted by everybody. This is an official call for the approaching fiestas. From the 1st September every evening there is a communal prayer to the Virgin in the Ermita and the two days of fiesta (8 and 9 September) are celebrated by various folklore representations of dansants, llauradores, gitanes, cavallets, pelegrines y moros y cristians, all of which are of local cultural value.

Every one of these various folkloric groups participate in the afternoon procession to accompany the Virgin through the Old Town, formed in two lines in front of her and dancing throughout. The Virgin is accompanied by Moors and Christians whilst carried on the shoulders of sailors. After the procession in the “plaza de armas” square, various groups carry out their acts in front of the Ermitana chapel by the wall of the templar-built castle.

Naturalmente que en estos diálogos siempre vencían los cristianos (tras una breve lucha) que convertían a los moros y el bien o el ángel, componiéndose una figura que enlazaba ambos diálogos, levantándose al niño sobre las peanas formadas por los sables de los danzantes y dando desde arriba un viva al Santo Patrono.

These folkloric dancers are known as "els dansants", dating back to the 17 Century. Religious in character, they act in the Ermitana fiestas on the 8 and 9 September, dancing in the procession, and later on in the plaza de armas square as well as during vespers. The “albaes”, or night time procession, is similar to that of towns in the region of Aragon, where, during the day presents are given out which here in Peñiscola is translated as “fer lo ranxet”, with a similar meaning.

The choreography is composed of dances with swords, sticks and bows and arrows between moors and christians, in which we can also include small shields from Urrea de Jaén or also the Tauste human towers. The dialogue is theatrical with comical verbal battles between both moors and christians. . In Sariñena, another village with similar traditions, their version of the moors and christians has appearances by Charlemagne. The origin of these dances can betraced back to the high aragon area, inland from Peñiscola. Other areas have different versions. In Ribagorza, situated in the region of Aragón, we can see the same dances, but this time with the metaphor of an angel and a devillish figure, whose crimes include lifting up ladies skirts!

Unsurprisingly, the eventual winner of these fights would be the christians, who would end up converting the moors. The processions would then continue with a figure of the baby Jesus carried on top of the swords of the dansers.

The Fact that these dances can be seen all over the local area of Castellón is significant, especially within the areas of Morella and Todolella. From this we can gather that similarity of the local garments links these dances to other areas, such as inland Teruel, and curiously enough, further north Spain.

In Peñiscola, the sticks, both long and thin are closer in origin to the dance of the sticks in Cataluña than those shorter and wider often used in Aragon.

The musical which accompanies this dates back to the 18 Century, when instruments such as string drums or rarer still, metal pipes which are fase disappearing.

Nevertheless, the important thing to remember is that these dances can still be seen today, and show us traditions long past of our villages and their people.