The festivals of the Carthaginians and Romans experienced their culminating moment this Saturday afternoon: the great general parade, which on the ninth day of the battle unites the troops and legions that had faced each other hours before on the battlefield. It is enough for a drum to sound on a street in Cartagena for neighbors and visitors to come out to meet it, knowing that behind the drumbeats there is history, tradition and spectacle. So with the display of percussion and music that both sides made, they guaranteed a full crowd in the streets through which the procession passed, which began to leave the Plaza del Ayuntamiento before seven in the afternoon and arrived after ten in the afternoon. night to camp. Thousands of people were delighted with the rhythmic parades of civil, military and mercenary groups, with the variety of costumes displayed by the five thousand participants and with the shows that fire-eaters and other entertainers performed throughout the journey.
To the surprise of some, the public was also able to admire at the beginning of the procession the characteristic parade of two squads of Moors and Christians of Alicante to the sounds of two music bands, as well as a representation of the Ibero-Roman festivals of Cástulo, arrival from Linares, with his own general Aníbal and Himilce preceding the fifty local troops and legions. They were the special guests of Year XXXIV.
“These people are spectacular,” said a young man on Main Street as the Warriors of Uxama passed by, the Iberians who led the parade. He was right, with those leather and fur uniforms on their heads and shoulders, ringing their falcatas with the buckle of the uniform. They began the succession of interspersed troops and legions, each with its aesthetic peculiarities and its parade rhythm, but all following the drum.
Some groups displayed carts with impossible figures that were actually sources of sweet wine and the land with which they presented the spectators. It was carried, among others, by Universitas and the Lobetania Mercenaries, who also preceded the float in which the children’s Aníbal and Himilce, Pedro Solano and Carolina Mir paraded.
A pleasant afternoon contributed to the brilliance of Roman settlers, warriors, legions and civilians. Fortunately, the rain that always threatens Cartagena when autumn arrives passed this year for greater splendor of the festivities.
Proposal
There were moments of special emotion in the parade. Perhaps the most important, Sergio’s request for her hand to María José, from the Ara Pacis legion, in the middle of the parade and in front of the tribune of the Puerta de Murcia. She said yes. Spirits were running high when the Roman music band Caterva Redemptionis, arriving from Linares, burst into that same place with its suggestive music from a gladiator movie. They accompanied the float pulled by four mules with Escipión and Emilia Paula, played by Javier Argudo and María Montserrat. The Romans paid tribute in the morning, before the funerary monument of Torreciega, to their fallen in the battle for the conquest of Quart Hadast.
In the final stretch of the parade, the other main characters of the festivities appeared, Aníbal and Himilce, that is, Julio Guillamón and Esther Escolar, also on a platform and opening the way for another series of spectacular troops and legions, for the symbols of both sides. -the elephant and the eagle-, as well as prominent protagonists of the festivities, such as Gaius Lalio showing the double mural crown achieved during the conquest of Qart Hadast.
The public that was seated enjoyed a varied and eye-catching parade for more than two and a half hours. The Libyan Hoplite Lancers and the legionnaires of the Extraordinary Shock Forces put the culmination with their vibrant and martial parades announced by fanfares.
The passage of revelers left terraces and bars full in the main pedestrian axis of the city, before the fun moved to the camp.
The extinguishing of the Sacred Fire and the castle close the festivities today
Carthaginians and Romans close today their XXXIV Year of historical festivities with the extinguishing of the sacred fire, starting at 9:30 p.m., on the camp scene. Half an hour later, the great fireworks display will take place, shooting from Cantón Avenue so that it can be seen preferably from the festival venue and the entire esplanade of the Cartagonova municipal stadium.
This closing Sunday is a quiet day for the members of the troops and legions. The meager official program is normal, taking into account that the camps will have closed at dawn after the last big party.
However, there are two activities in the official holiday program: at ten in the morning and until half past one in the afternoon, the VI naval modeling exhibition, which will take place in the port’s Cola de la Ballena; and at 8:45 p.m., on the camp esplanade, the cultural battle will take place.
On this last day, many of the festive groups open their camps for appetizers and food. Likewise, the fair will operate on the last day, installed in the parking lot of the La Rambla shopping center and its adjacent lots. The vintage market stalls also work today, many of them until midday.
After midnight, troops and legions will close their camps as they clear out guests and visitors. They will thus close another edition of the historic festivals of Cartagena that remains to be remembered.
#Punics #Romans #win #street #Cartagena
