The Realejos it goes back to what it was. This May 3, 2022 has been the end of a long nightmare that the realejeros have been able to turn, in record time, into a real dream: to recover their greatest day among the flowers and gunpowder of the town. It has returned to being the one before the start of the pandemic. Covid-19. A municipality full of crosses, over 300, which its neighbors decorate with flowers and care to share its beauty with everyone who passes by on this day of crowds. A town that smells of firecracker gunpowder and that lights up at night with a firework that lasts for centuries and is one of the largest fireworks displays in Europe. A place where cakes, typical dishes and glasses of wine are shared; where the passage of the cross is celebrated as a return to normality with its own smells, colors, sounds, touches and flavors.
the royal mayor, Manuel Dominguez (PP)confessed this Tuesday the importance of “recovering the smile of the neighbors” in “a day of happiness, of joyof walking through the streets and entering the houses to share the traditions, customs and way of being of the realejeros».
Enrique Agonec Hernandezrepresentative of the sun street, could not hide his joy “for having the festivities as God intended”, like the ones before, “despite the fact that we could not work, as usual, during the entire previous year to prepare them. When we started back in March to get started in case they could be held, our expectations were very low because we thought it would be difficult to find collaboration, but it has been quite the opposite. People and companies have turned, they have collaborated more than ever. It was something impressive».
With the resources contributed by the people to acquire flowers, decoration and fires, without economic contribution from the City Council, as is tradition, both streets have been able to organize a big party. “With emotions running high, after so long. A lot of feeling has been noted, because of the importance of meeting people again. It has been like waking up from a nightmare and living in a dream,” he admits. Enrique Agonec.
Isidro Hernandez Capellarepresentative of Middle Street, agreed that it was «a special day, with a lot of work, which has reminded us of the days before, but with a special feeling. There was a lot of desire and emotion, and that has been noticed in the large number of people who have come. Despite the lack of time, it coincides with the sun street, in which “people have responded, they have worked faster and that has allowed us to make everything work out in the end”. In his opinion, one of the most emotional moments was the midday procession, “because it allowed us to see the cross in the street again.”
Tonight, with the nocturnal procession of the cross, magical moments are relived. The fire pitwhich is nothing more than the offering of the neighbors and sympathizers of the streets of El Sol and El Medio Arriba to his cross. A cross carried by women and men and that changes hands at the line of La Pila street, which marks the border of this ancestral pique, to continue with the second part of an offering that rumbles and shines in all corners of the Valley.
