FLOWER CROSSES AND FLAMING HORNS HONOUR JESÚS NAZARENO

With the arrival of the warmer weather, Jávea is beginning to prepare for the festivities dedicated to Jesús Nazareno, the official patron saint of the town who has long been considered the protector of the village and for whom the population devotes great devotion and fervour. Like every year, the Cofradía - the Brotherhood of the Nazareno - has put together a programme of events during which bull-running will once again share the limelight with the colour crosses of flowers and the devotion which makes these celebration the most religious of the year.

And it all begins next Friday 26th April with the controversial bull-running event which will take place in Placeta del Convent from 6.45pm when there will be a grand street entrance of bulls along Calle Doctor Borrull before the heifers are released in the square. The spectacle will be repeated at 11.00pm although the darkness brings the added danger of the 'Bou Embolat' in which balls of fire are lit on the top of special frames attached to the horns. The spectacular continues on Saturday at 11.00am, 6.45pm and 11.00pm and concludes on Sunday at 11.00am and 6.45pm. On the same weekend, at midnight on Saturday, there will be a special disco on the Plaza de la Constitución organised by the Comisión de Fogueres along with the 2013 Quintà in which DJs Santi Bertomeu, Aitor Galán and Pablo Gisbert will be providing the music. In the same place but on Sunday night at 10.30pm, the theatre group 'Tot Rist' based in the port will be staging a performance of the traditional Valencian farce - sainete - entitled "El drama de la bolsería".

The programme continues on Tuesday 30th April at 9.00pm which a musical performance from the excellent Grupo Polifònic Ars Nova de Xàbia in the Convento de Agustinas in the Placeta del Convent which, if anything, is a great excuse to get a look inside the convent. At 10.30pm the same evening, there will be live music in the Plaza de la Constitución with BRADMIS, a popular local pop group which has been performing for more than 40 years and always gets the locals tapping their feet and singing along, helped by copious amounts of mistela and the traditional coca maría sponge cake.

Wednesday 1st May is dedicated to children and will start with two 'despertas', the loud wake-up parades, at 9.00am with one through the streets of the port with the dancers and musicians of the Grup de Danses Portitxol whilst the other will shatter the peace in the Centro Histórico with the help of the traditional dulçaina and tabalet, the Valencian oboe instrument and drums. The procession will end in the Plaza de la Constitución where there will be some food for the kids as well as games, inflatables and rides in horse-drawn carts, courtesy of the CAE Tiraset. In addition, the youth volunteers of the Cruz Roja will be staging a special gymkhana to highlight accident prevention. That evening, at 9.00pm, will be the much-loved traditional parade of the Cofradía accompanied by the excellent musicians of La Tuna de Xàbia who will visit the flower crosses prepared by the mayorales who this year are Carlos Cholbi Forner, Álvaro Morell Cholbi, José Font Caballero, Francisco Caselles Catalá, Carlos Mata Cholbi, José Moya Ramacho, Miguel Bas Llidó, Jaime Gisbert Puig, Juan Bautista Chorro Torres and José Gil Puigcerver. The day will close with a performance from the Grup de Danses Portitxol at 10.30pm in the Plaza de la Constitución.

On Thursday 2nd May, the festeros will visit the elderly residents of the Asilo Hermanos Cholbi to invite them to share a paella whilst later that evening there will be a flower offering to the image of Jesús Nazareno by the associations, peñas and residents of Jávea in general; the parade will from the Plaza Marina Alta (the Correos square) and finish at the church of San Bartolomé. And then, at 10.00pm, there's some more Valencian farce with the Grup de Teatre Montgó de Xàbia who will be performing "Als Bous de Castelló" in the Plaza de la Constitución.

Friday 3rd May - the day of the 'Subida de Jesús Nazareno' when the image is carried back to its home at the blue-domed Ermita del Calvario - opens with a ringing of the church bells and the despertà by the brass band of the Centro Artístico Musical de Xàbia. At midday, there will be a solemn mass at the church of San Bartolomé which will be followed by the deafening explosions of the mascleta which will launched from the car-park in Avenida de Palmela. That evening there will be another mass dedicated to the sick and infirm before the solemn procession at 7pm in which the residents of the town will accompany the image back up the hill to his chapel in front of which will be launched a spectacular firework display to finish of the festivities for 2013.

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