In the following week after Holy Week the city of Murcia is celebrating the Spring Festival. The tradition of these celebrations reaches the end of the 19th century, although some of the parades are even older.
The festivities begin on Easter Sunday with the Barracas Huertanas, where they can taste traditional local gastronomy, accompanied by the Huerta Mass and the Election of the Queen of Huerta, which end on Tuesday with the folkloric and traditional parade of Bando de la Huerta through the streets of the city.
On Wednesday is celebrated the Meatloaf Day, a tasty Murcian delicacy. Next day through the streets and squares decorated with flowers passes a parade Murcia in Spring, also known as the Battle of Flowers. In this parade the beautiful girls, dressed in regional costumes, are going in allegorical carriages ornamented and decorated with natural flowers. This is an exaltation of the spring, where the flowers, thrown to the attendees, demonstrate the beauty of this season of the year in the gardens of Murcia.
Several music bands and animation groups are also part of this procession. At the end of the tour, they distribute all the flowers, which adorned the carriages, among the public, so everyone could go back to their home with a nice bouquet. Finalizing is made a large fireworks display.
And another, it seems that more important element of these holidays, is dedicated to the Sardine, which is a symbol of the Fast. Every year a giant sardine arrives in Murcia from a municipality in the region, which during the next few days is exposed to the public and makes its parades through the streets. The culmination takes place on Saturday night during a big party called the Burial of the Sardine.
