It is almost midnight, the thunderous noise and the thousands of light sparks that for three quarters of an hour have turned the sky of Elx into a colorful concert of rockets, suddenly cease. Darkness spreads over the city, the Gloria Patri sounds, the last song of the Misteri d'Elx, and from the top of the tower of the Basilica of Santa Maria emerges an imposing source of light, the Palmera de la Mare de Deu, the offering of the town of Elx to its patron saint, the Virgin of the Assumption.
It is dawn, the Nit de l'Albà, when an unusual dawn, made up of more than a thousand rockets that fly up to 300 meters high and 500 meters in diameter, spreads over the city where dozens of young people later take to the streets to launch the forklifts, fulfilling a tradition that for a few years has been carried out in a limited area to reduce the possibility of accidents.
This year, as explained by the mayor of Festejos, Inmaculada Mora, 312 palm trees were ready to illuminate the sky of Elx, with the firing of 2,500 net kilos of gunpowder from 21 points in the municipality, for a pyrotechnic show that has added 70,000 rockets.
The Imperial Palm Tree was shot at 11:30 p.m. from the Paseo de la Estación and later the 'cohetà' arrived, with the simultaneous launch of 2,300 thunder shells, one hundred of them of the tinsel type (drop similar to a teardrop), 140 palm trunk effect, 300 whistle casings and 800 assorted effects that, as a novelty, have been fired from Plaza 1 de Mayo, the Jardín de Andalucía and the Mariano Benlliure school.
Regarding the palm tree of the Virgin, the pyrotechnician Fernando Ferrández explained that it weighed 98 kilos, the maximum that the tower of the temple from where it is launched can support.
The Councilor for Celebrations explained that, this year, the Nit de l'Albà has had a budget of 150,000 euros and some forty people have worked since August 1 on its assembly.
Previously, the city held the last general rehearsal of the Misteri d'Elx yesterday, which was attended by members of the new Consell, such as the Minister of Culture, Vicente Barrera, and the Minister of Justice, Elisa Núñez, as well as the president of the Diputación de Alicante, Toni Perez.
The Misteri d'Elx is represented every year in the month of August to celebrate the festival of the Virgin of the Assumption and is the only one of its characteristics that has maintained its origins in Europe. According to the researchers, its representation began in the 15th century, but, in the middle of the 16th century, the Council of Trent prohibited it.
For this reason, the involvement of people from Elche and local religious entities was necessary when it came to demonstrating their devotion and worship to the Virgin so that Pope Urban VIII granted a special permit or bull in 1632 for it to be represented again.
Non-professional actors and singers from the city of Elche participate in the play, all of them children and male adults. The text of the Misteri d'Elx -also declared a National Historical Monument in 1931 and a Festival of International Tourist Interest in 1965- is written in Valencian, except for a psalm and some verses in Latin, while the music includes medieval, Renaissance and Baroque pieces.
