Mahomet, la Vierge et la frontière

Mahomet, the Virgin and the Border. In the south of the Valencia country (Spain), in hundred towns or so, people celebrate each year in honour of their patron saints the memory of the storming of their cities by the Moors and its reconquest by the Christians. Even though the Reconquest plays an important part in Spain history, it cannot alone account for the vitality of those festivities. Actually, this historical past only exists in those rituals and it is built again through them upon present. In this respect, two significant features of that area can be underlined. One is the rivalries between towns intent on asserting their specific identities; the other is the strained relationships between "Castillans" and "Valencians". Those festivities, as is shown by the example small town, Biar, are outward signs of those cultural differences and give people good opportunity to express their own identities.Albert-Llorca Marlène, Albert Jean-Pierre. Mahomet, la Vierge et la frontière. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 50ᵉ année, N. 4, 1995. pp. 855-886