Correfoc Under Fire

One thing that has struck me since relocating to Mallorca is the value and fervent celebration applied to the  culture and identity of the Spanish, and particularly the region of Catalunya.

Starting in June of each year, the region's villages and towns present a multiformity of celebration in the form of  local fiestas. These have both religious and pagan origins, and often appear to amalgamate into a common revelry and observance of tradition. The fiestas are characterised by an all-encompassing acknowledgment of culture; involving food, drink, music, the arts, religious and pagan rites, and the highlight for many Spaniards, pyrotechnics.

It is obvious that fireworks, for the Spanish, are a way of life. As a consequence the individual fiestas are all a delirious outlet for this noisy and smoke-filled past-time.

All Hell breaks loose...

The correfoc or “fire run” is the culmination of the relationship between the traditions of the fiestas, an army of willing participants and fireworks.

The correfoc takes the form of a parade where participants dress as devils (dimonis), carrying effigies of dragons (dracs), which by design are intended to daunt and overawe those in their path. The dimonis similarly carry devices holding a variety of fireworks spewing sparks and acrid smoke directly into the surrounding crowd. Part of the tradition sees spectators have an active role in this procession, almost deliberately blocking the advancement of the dimonis and dracs, a symbolic warding-off of the forces of darkness. This stand-off results in a curious dance, with the spectators almost enticing the dimonis to cast fire in their direction.

Dancing with the Devil

 In Mediterranean culture and celebration, fire is cathartic and historically relates to a ritualistic and figurative cleansing against evil.

These chaotic scenes are played out to a backdrop of a relentless and rhythmic pounding of drums. The din of constant crackers and sparklers, the heat, and a night sky alive with flame and acrid smoke, results in surreal and almost apocalyptic scenes. What would have been a peaceful village square moments before, suddenly erupts into a fiery cauldron of light, noise, smell and human bodies. This is where all hell breaks lose, and is as close to Armageddon as we are likely to experience.

Drac

 The electric environment and combined adrenaline rush of the hundreds of participants leads to what is fundamentally a tribal atmosphere, rekindling the most basic of human instinct. Once over, correfoc participants commonly agree that being part of this event is instantly addictive

Good vs Evil

There are however some that disagree.

The European Union is now the greatest threat to the future of the correfoc as it is currently celebrated. Health and Safety directives (as usual) are currently proposed so as to fall in line with general EU safety requirements. This would in-effect mean that in the future there would be very little, if any, public participation in the correfoc. The cultural ramifications are clear.

Predictably there is a firm backlash against the EU directive, not only in Spain, but also from the large Catalan community in France. French-Catalans have already seen the correfoc, as traditionally celebrated there, confined to history within one year as a direct result of EU regulations. French lobbyists are now requesting special cultural exemptions for the Catalan festivals.

As regards Spain, the Ministry of Industry in Madrid will ultimately decide whether to enforce any EU directives. The Spanish government has thus far overruled EU safety legislation with the reason that Spanish culture remains a priority, and the use of fireworks is part of this heritage.
The EU stance on health and safety is somewhat general with respect to the correfoc. It is known that the risk of accidents is actually very low in context, with the number of injuries actually declining over the last decade.

Armageddon

This issue has therefore become an issue of politics versus culture. Consequently the outcome is going to be critical for all EU nations; this in-effect a measure of how much the bureaucrats in Brussels will be allowed to influence national and regional culture.

Correfoc is by far not an ancient tradition as would be expected. This celebration rose out of the ashes of the removal of Franco's tenure, as a means to resurrect the cultural traditions suppressed and obliterated by the dictatorship. It is felt in many quarters, that in-essence, the correfoc took on an additional meaning in that participants embraced and taunted fire as a means of catharsis following decades of Franco's authoritarian rule.

In light of this, it is inconceivable that such a meaningful tradition should be allowed to end at the hands of what could be essentially be described as another dictatorship.

Viva Correfoc! I, for one, will be back next year.