The annual Moors and Christian festival gives the residents of Moraira a chance to revel in their Islamic ancestry A small army of “Moors”, made up of shopkeepers, bar owners, bakers and schoolchildren of Moraira, conquered the town’s castle, a small fort no bigger than a cottage, last month. The next day it was liberated by their “Christian” counterparts in a gripping battle on the beach. So began Moraira’s Moors and Christians festival, a copy (and one of many in Spain) of a celebration that began in the 16th century in the town of Alcoy to commemorate a landmark battle in 1276. Moors conquered everywhere but the very north of Spain in the eighth century. Over the following centuries the Christians retook the country in the Christian Reconquista until, by the 1500s, most Muslims had either converted or been expelled. In contrast to Spain’s modern reputation for being inward-looking and hostile to African neighbours, Spaniards actually are curious about their North African past. Many wish to trace their ancestors back to the Moors and are proud of the magnificent Islamic architecture scattered across the country. In Moraira, on the coast between Valencia and Alicante, everyone wants to be a Moor.
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Spain: Religion, costumes and conquests – all a town needs to party
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