Alfaro once again carried out his traditional Burning of Judas on Easter Sunday, some dolls distributed throughout the La Rioja town that mainly represent politicians or celebrities and who seek to leave behind the bad things they have done during the year to “resurrect” in the next 365 days .
Among those chosen this 2023 were the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and the former ministers Clara Ponsatà and Toni ComÃn, characterized as three musketeers (dressed in estelades and with raised swords), accompanied by another doll dedicated to Judge Llarena with his mace. In a sarcastic poster his ‘betrayal’ was explained: to break Spain and flee from the law.
The burning of the three Catalan politicians who fled at the end of 2017 after organizing the 1-O referendum ignited a part of the independence movement. Different political personalities and members of Catalan civil society blamed the double standards from Spain, considering that if images of the royal family had been burned in Catalonia they would already have “the Prosecutor’s Office behind them”, as the General Secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, pointed out. On twitter.
In the same line, Puigdemont expressed himself in a tweet, who did not object to the burning of these dolls, but to consider that if it had happened in a Catalan town “the screams and self-flagellation would not stop.” “And if the burned dolls were those of the King, his wife and the future head of state (democratically elected, as everyone knows) there would be editorials in our press, not only the monarchical one, asking to withdraw such distinction… not to mention the complaints that Spanishism would present”.
As an example, he recalled the voices opposed to the Està Passant program on TV3 for a gag dedicated to the Virgen del RocÃo in the middle of Holy Week, images that outraged some sectors of Spanish nationalism and Catholicism. “If they demand that TV3 apologize for the gag of a humor program, imagine how they would be if we distinguished as a” tourist interest “the burning of the king’s doll and his family…”, added Puigdemont on the social network.
“Each one qualifies how they want the tourist interest of their traditions; if this seems good to La Rioja, go ahead. But the double measuring stick is something else,” he concluded. Puigdemont was already ‘burned’ and ‘shot’ in the Seville town of Coripe on that same party in 2019. In various Spanish and Latin American towns to remember Judas’ betrayal of Jesus Christ and that he wants to “end evil and traitors” .
The three pro-independence politicians are not the only ones elected. Characters such as Pedro Sánchez, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Santiago Abascal, Carlos III, Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump were also set on fire in these small faults. Also others who have nothing to do with politics, such as the cook Daviz Muñoz or his wife, the presenter Cristina Pedroche.
Each of Alfaro’s groups chooses a theme in which to “frame” their figures “and for example we have chosen universal literature” and works such as “Romeo and Juliet, which are Santiago Abascal and Giorgia Meloni, respectively, or ” The Little Prince”, which is Alberto Núñez Feijóo”, explained to EFE the Councilor for the Environment, Carmen Ovejas, who participates in one of the groups that creates these figures
“You don’t have to look for any special reason for these characters to be here, just that someone in the group decides that because of what they did this year they deserve to be burned and when an agreement is reached, the figure begins to be created,” he detailed. Ovejas, who does not believe that there is “any controversy” about the chosen characters “although perhaps a little morbid”.
In addition, each group has a person in charge of justifying the reasons why each “Judas” is hung with a sarcastic text that also gives this party another incentive, since hundreds of people visit the figures and analyze the “arguments” in detail. of each judas
“Judas was a traitor and that is why he deserved this ending, and we also want to burn the bad things of the year on Easter Sunday to make way for better things,” justifies the mayor of Alfaro, governed by the socialist Julián Jiménez.
The origin of this festival is not clear “but what I can say is that I am over sixty years old and my grandparents already hung figures from one side of the street to burn them on this day,” he recounts. At first, yes, “it was something more basic, because I remember that dolls were made without heads or simply drawings were put on” but little by little the technique was improved until it reached the one used now, mainly with papier-mâché “and queue, although then each Judas dresses “in clothes that are even made to measure”, he concludes.
