The Cuartillas 2023 Festivities Get Underway in Mojácar

This Friday, the 7th of July, the festival of Cuartillas, a district of Mojácar, gets underway, celebrating its seventh edition this year, 2023, after local residents recovered this lost tradition following 70 years of oblivion. In honor of its Patron Saint, San Antonio, Cuartillas starts its festivities on the 7th of July at 10 pm with a performance by the Lita Paredes dance academy. At 11 pm, a performance by the Savoy orchestra will open the dancing until late into the night.

On Saturday, the 8th of July, at 1 pm, the midday festival will allow for trying the area’s typical dishes or a multitude of tapas, to be followed at 2 pm with a giant paella which will serve as sustenance for the “tardeo” (afternoon drinks and partying), which little by little is finding its place in all festivities and which can end up with ice creams, cakes, and churros. As is traditional, attractions for the little ones are also planned.

The Holy Mass at 6 pm in honor of San Antonio will take place in the small chapel which residents have built for the image of their Patron Saint. A performance by the Conchi dance academy at 9 pm will open the evening session, and the Embrujo Orchestra will continue the festivities for everyone who has come along.

The Cuartillas Residents’ Association, created not only for the organization of its patron saint festival, works all year with the aim of recovering a neighborhood which in its day was an important population center with more than 100 residents. Recovering its old hermitage and the original image of San Antonio have been two priorities which have kept the residents very active. It could not be. The hermitage is on private land, and the original image of the saint went to Barcelona at the time of the Civil War, rescued when the original hermitage was in ruins.

But there is no discouragement for these residents who created this association, and who during this time, with the help of their elderly, have recovered the memory of some festivities and of some days of gathering with family and friends. They have also got the enthusiasm back with the construction of an enclosure where the image of their patron saint is watched over, and lacking the original, have managed to raise funds and been able to order another one like the one from yesteryear. New hermitage and new saint, which have been received with the same affection and enthusiasm, and which contain the essence of many generations who gave life to a neighborhood which today refuses to be lost in oblivion. The proof is that every year there come along more residents from other parts of Mojácar and the region who do not want to miss these days to have fun and to break with routine.