A record 171 musketeers fired more than 170 kilos of gunpowder before a spectacular new multimedia re-enactment of the capture of the castle in Plaza Ramón Sijé
Orihuela’s streets erupted to the thunder of gunpowder on Tuesday as the city’s Moors and Christians celebrations staged their traditional battle for control of the castle.
Following Sunday’s floral offering to the patron saints Justa and Rufina, the colourful festivities took a decidedly louder turn as muskets, blunderbusses and arquebuses filled the historic centre with smoke and noise.
A record 190 participants took part in the Guerrilla Única de la Pólvora, including 171 licensed musketeers, each carrying one kilo of gunpowder. Anyone taking part as a shooter must hold the appropriate firearms licence for muzzle-loading weapons.
The total of more than 170 kilos represented another significant increase in participation. Previous editions used 118 kilos in 2023, 125 kilos in 2024 and 134 kilos last year.
The procession followed its customary route in reverse, beginning at Glorieta Gabriel Miró and finishing on Paseo Calvo Sotelo. The change was intended to make it easier for the musketeers and senior festival representatives to join the subsequent re-enactment of the capture of the castle.
Throughout the parade, members of the Moorish and Christian comparsas raised their weapons, fired coordinated volleys and charged through the streets as they recreated the struggle between the crescent and the cross.
The gunpowder battle remains one of the most dramatic events in Orihuela’s Moors and Christians festivities, which have been declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest.
A new setting for the castle’s capture
This year’s Toma del Castillo was staged in Plaza Ramón Sijé for the first time, moving from its traditional home in Glorieta Gabriel Miró.
The production was also completely redesigned as an immersive theatrical and audiovisual experience combining live performances, music, dance, three-dimensional projections and digital effects.
Organisers hope the new format will become a permanent feature of future celebrations, complementing the recently introduced landing ceremony in Orihuela Costa and creating a narrative linking the arrival of the opposing forces on the coast with the Christian reconquest beneath Monte de San Miguel.
In previous years, the two sides acted out several historic and legendary episodes around a temporary castle. These included the Pact of Tudmir in 713, the Moorish capture of the fortress and the Christian version of The Gate of Betrayal, culminating in the raising of the victorious side’s flag.
However, the festival’s imposing purpose-built castle was destroyed during the devastating September 2019 flooding. The structure, which had been unveiled that same year, measured 26 metres long, 11 metres high and nine metres deep and was said to be the largest festival castle of its kind in Spain.
Since then, the organising association had been forced to hire a smaller and costly replacement.
This year, the physical structure was abandoned in favour of projecting a digital castle across the façades of the Miguel Hernández Cultural Centre and the recently restored former Caja de Ahorros de Monserrate building.
Through video mapping, animation and optical illusions, the buildings appeared to come alive, providing a dramatic backdrop for a production intended to demonstrate that Orihuela’s fiestas are about far more than parades, elaborate costumes, music and gunpowder.
The legend of the Armengola
At the heart of the performance was the legend of the Armengola, Orihuela’s celebrated medieval heroine. The script was adapted from Atanasio Die’s The Gate of Betrayal.
The story portrays medieval Orihuela as a community in which Muslims, Christians and Jews coexist amid a flourishing culture of intellectuals, poets and philosophers. Conflict erupts when the Muslim council, fearing the arrival of Castilian troops, decides to eliminate the city’s Christian population.
According to legend, the Armengola—nurse to the son of the local ruler Benzaddan—learns of the plot and leads residents of the Arrabal Roig in an assault on the castle on the eve of the feast of Saints Justa and Rufina.
The theatrical production was performed by Teatro Expresión, directed by Manuela García Gómez and coordinated by Javier García Gómez-Die.
Dancers from the Ana Belén Navarro Academy also took part. Navarro portrayed the Armengola last year, while Pilar Hernández holds the ceremonial role for the current festivities. She was accompanied by Christian ambassador Eduardo Aparicio and Moorish ambassador Francisco Sánchez.
“Unity is our strength”
Following the performance, castle governor Raúl Muñoz addressed the crowd, describing his appointment as “an honour and a responsibility” that he had accepted with pride and humility.
Muñoz, who led the Moros J’Alhamed comparsa for a decade and has participated in the fiestas since he was 15, thanked the Armengola, the ambassadors, the central festival committee and his family.
He also paid tribute to the thousands of people who fill Orihuela’s streets with colour, music and celebration each year, urging the comparsas to remain united as they protect and develop the city’s festival traditions.
“Unity is our strength,” he said. “In the most difficult battles, the unity of an entire community becomes clear.”
He concluded with the rallying cry: “Let those who wish stand with us—and let those who can stand against us. Long live the fiesta!”
All images courtesy of Vega-Baja.com
