The foguera (hoguera in Spanish) is the monument of ephemeral art that each district of Alicante sets up in the street during the Hogueras de San Juan and burns on the night of 24 June. The same word is used for the committee that builds it: in Alicante, “being from a foguera” means belonging to a committee, not owning a pile of firewood.
What the monument is
The Diccionari normatiu valencià defines it as a construction of combustible material, “centrada en figures corpòries de caràcter caricaturesc” (centred on caricature-like three-dimensional figures), set up in the streets of Alicante and neighbouring towns for San Juan and burned that same night.
The decree that declared the fiesta a Bien de Interés Cultural (protected intangible heritage) describes how it is put together. It combines architecture, sculpture and painting, and follows a classic composition in three parts: a base, where the scenes unfold with the ninots (figures) and their explanatory captions; a central body; and a crowning top piece.
It is built from wood, cardboard, fabric and expanded polystyrene, materials that also help it burn. The content is usually satirical and critical. According to Alicante Turismo, some are as tall as 12 metres. The hogueras compete in categories according to their budget and a jury rewards them before the cremà.
The foguera is also the committee
Each foguera committee is assigned a district, which may be a street, a square, a group of streets or a neighbourhood, and usually takes its name from it. It works as an association all year round: it has its board, its bellees and damas de honor (the fiesta queens and their maids of honour) and its clubhouse, the racó. Barracas, where there are any, share a district with a hoguera; the 2014 decree spoke of a maximum of two per committee.
Hoguera, foguera and fogata
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Hoguera | For the RAE, an open-air fire that gives off a lot of flame. In Alicante, also the monument and the fiesta. |
| Foguera | The Valencian form. The AVL records both senses: the pile of wood that is lit and the San Juan monument. |
| Fogata | A fire that gives off a lot of flame, with no monument or committee behind it. |
That is why the fiesta is called Hogueras de San Juan in Spanish and Fogueres de Sant Joan in Valencian, and on posters and programmes you will almost always see “foguera”.
From the plantà to the cremà
- Night of 19 June: the children’s hogueras and the street ninots are set up.
- Night of the 20th: official plantà (setting-up) of the adult monuments.
- Morning of the 21st: the juries tour the hogueras and announce the prizes.
- Night of the 24th: at twelve, the palmera from Santa Bárbara castle marks the start of the cremà (the burning). While the monuments burn, the firefighters soak the crowd: that is the banyà.
Where it comes from
The San Juan bonfires come from the summer solstice festivities. In Alicante there are records of them from the 19th century, when the City Council tried to ban them because of the disorder they caused. José María Py proposed replacing those bonfires with artistic monuments, in imitation of the Valencian falla, and in June 1928 the first ones went up: nine monuments and two days of fiesta. From 1931, with Gastón Castelló, the hogueras developed their own style, the Alicante style. Today they are a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest and, since 2014, a Bien de Interés Cultural (protected intangible heritage).
The foguera and the table
Beside each foguera there is a racó and, often, a barraca: that is where people have lunch, dinner and dance during the fiestas. That is where Xepep comes in. We prepare catering for Hogueras and barracas in Alicante, with kitchen and bar in the marquee and lunches and dinners over several days, according to each committee’s programme. You can see how we work in the Hogueras gallery.
Related terms
The monument is burned in the cremà; the festive space of the barraquers is the Hogueras barraca; at midday you hear the mascletà. In Valencia, the clubhouse of each Fallas committee is called a casal faller.
For more vocabulary from the table and the fiesta, explore Ninot.