Spanish Festival of Els Enfarinats Celebrated With Flour Fight
The annual festival of Els Enfarinats is celebrated with flour and egg
fights. Els Enfarinats takes place in the town of Ibi in Alicante, Spain
on December 28 as part of celebrations related to the Day of the Innocents.
In the day long festival, participants dressed in mock military dress
stage a mock coup pretending to take over the town. Dressed in a
slovenly manner, they enter banks and shops stirring up trouble in a
good-humoured way, imposing fines on shopkeepers and bankers, mocking
local dignitaries and reading humorous speeches. Those who oppose are
assaulted with flour cakes and eggs.
The tradition's origins
are unclear, but it is believed to have grown from the ancient Feast of
Fools, or Fiesta de los Locos, once part of the old Roman festival of
Saturnalia. The tradition is is over 200 years old.
