Fiesta de la Quema: Algarrobo’s Living History (with Extra Smoke and Drama)
The summer holiday season may be over, but here in the Axarquía the parties refuse to pack up their maracas. Last weekend, the whitewashed village of Algarrobo decided to turn back the clock to 1811.
Back then, Napoleon Bonaparte thought it would be a brilliant idea to appoint his brother Joseph as King of Spain. Unsurprisingly, things didn’t go to plan. After an ambush left French troops rattled, the French governor of Málaga ordered Algarrobo to be torched.
The villagers had other ideas. Armed with fishing nets, pitchforks, stones, and a couple of muskets that probably creaked louder than they fired, they stood their ground. Covered in soot from the fight, they became known as los tiznaos (“the blackened ones.)” Not the most flattering nickname, however unlike Napoleon’s empire, the name stuck.
Today Algarrobo celebrates its fiery past with the Fiesta de la Quema. The smoke and explosions are still there though these days they are from fireworks and muskets instead of angry soldiers. Locals don 19th-century outfits, music fills the streets, and mock battles play out in a cloud of theatrical gunpowder (all while the pop-up bars throughout the village sell cold beer to keep everyone historically hydrated).
Visitors are welcome to join in, sample traditional food, and marvel at how a near-disaster has turned into one of the most entertaining nights on the calendar. Because nothing says “holiday fun” like posing in front of a fake battlefield with tapas and cerveza in hand.
It’s not my usual kind of photography, but I couldn’t resist sneaking in a few candid shots.
