Friday, March 29

Tomorrow San Antón – Information



There is a popular phrase that says: «on the day of San Antón, the old women come out of the corner», and «five o’clock with sun», and another predicting that «even San Antón parties are» or, specifying even more, «until San Antón Easter is”, referring to the prolongation of the feast of the Epiphany. In Torrevieja, the day of San Antón was the trigger for another popular festival: the carnival festivities.

He is the saint of pets and also the benefactor patron to whom those who had suffered amputations, basket weavers, espadrille makers, brush makers, butchers and butchers, gravediggers, hermits, swineherds have taken refuge. , those who suffered from eczema, epilepsy, ergotism, erysipelas or other dermatological diseases.

The saint protected families from thunder, rage, warlocks, witches and all kinds of accidents. But the most relevant link was established between San Antón and the so-called «sacred fire», «hell fire» or «San Antón fire», a name that was given to a disease contracted by food poisoning, produced by a parasitic fungus of rye, the ergot, which poisoned the blood, wreaking havoc in other times.

The celebration of San Antón came to Torrevieja from the towns of Orihuela and Elche, places where this festival has always been celebrated, ending with a raffle for a pig.

In Orihuela, the festival of San Antón dates back to 1675, according to the dean Julio López Maymón. Since the last third of the 18th century, a pig was raffled, at first by the identity card system, writing the name of the possible winner. The raffle was born with the intention of dedicating the profits, once the expenses have been deducted, to the cult of the Saint and the conservation of the hermitage and other dependencies such as the chaplain’s room and “official apartment for the Lord of San Antón”, a canon designated to such charge by the cathedral chapter.

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In Elche, the festival of San Antón is celebrated in the popular neighborhood of Elche that bears the name of this saint. The traditional coca de San Antón, the blessing of the animals or the crowded pilgrimage of the saint, give these festivities a very emotional character for the entire city of palm trees, always with a festive atmosphere that invites you to enjoy. From the parish church of San Antón the saint goes on a pilgrimage to the nearby hermitage of San Antón, in the orchard of the same name, where the traditional lunch is celebrated and the day of the patron saint of the popular Elche neighborhood is celebrated, being one of the most old and popular of Elche. This year, due to the health situation, there will be no pilgrimage and the acts in honor of San Antón have once again been reduced, although the balconies remain decorated in his honor.

Typical sweets of this date are the balls of San Antón. The recipe for caramel balls was made with simple ingredients: sugar, water, bergamot essence and cream of tartar. The sweet spheres could be red, if fuchina was added, or yellow, if the candy had been cooked without food dyes, like the flag of the Crown of Aragon. The flavor did not vary by color. It was also customary these days to eat “bride bread”, palm hearts and hearts of palm.

In the middle of the 20th century, Torrevieja began to suffer the process of industrialization of the salt flats, the beginning of tourist development, the exodus of many of its inhabitants in search of work outside the town and some outside of Spain, which meant the disappearance of this celebration being truncated the party. In 1961, it was still a semi-festive day, with shops closing their doors in the afternoon to join in the celebration, everyone going to have a picnic in the nearby countryside or on the beaches.

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The Torrevieja poet, Salvador Aguirre, dedicated, in 1908, a graceful composition to the sweet balls of caramel that were eaten on that very special day:

The balls of San Anton

The seventeenth of January I carry / in my fragile and old memory, / and I know that eventually comes again / what is the old custom.

Every year they bring those streaks / that the “round” sweet is the hobby, / and the boys and girls / suck the balls of San Antón.

He has this leap of sympathy / such a privilege, such power, / that if someone lacks these days / the holy balls, he throws himself into the river.

For them there are noises, disturbances… / and such passion is so ardent, / that even the surrounding towns / the balls of San Antón arrive.

It is the first thing in the store, / there is no one who does not worry about them, / there is no confectioner who does not sell them, / nor is there a mouth that does not suck on them.

They are so round and so simple, / they are so digestive and sweet, / that the boys and girls / suck the San Antón balls.

They are blood-colored, lip-colored; / just like the mouths of living girls; / and they have to kiss without a grievance, / and that is why they are so striking.

It is worth so much to be incarnated, / (the same color of the heart) / that the single and the married / suck the balls of San Antón.

Such is the fame that they are achieving / and so many people are being persuaded, / that they are looking for them in many places, / and half of Spain I think they are already invading.

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I don’t know if they go abroad; / This hobby grows so much, / that a day will come when the whole world / will suck balls from San Antón».

Long live San Anton! Happy Holidays!


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