The Columbian Festivals ( es, Fiestas Colombinas, popularly just ''Las Colombinas'') are a set of annual celebrations in the city of
Huelva
Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including nature reserve on the Gulf of Cádiz coast. The ria ...
,
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
to commemorate the
first voyage of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
. They occur for a week at the end of July and beginning of August, the main day being 3 August, the date in 1492 on which Columbus departed
Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera () is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva. According to the 2015 census, the cit ...
, on the voyage that brought him to
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. The festivities have been declared to be of National Tourist Interest (''de Interés Turístico Nacional'').
Early years
![Cartel Colombinas Huelva 0002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Cartel_Colombinas_Huelva_0002.jpg)
As Pedro Rodríguez, mayor of Huelva, remarked in 1999, the Columbian Festivals are atypical of Andalusia in that they are not rooted in religion.
Although Huelva has had religious festivals at least since the 17th century—a pilgrimage day in the month of September honors the city's
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
, the Virgin of La Cinta—toward the end of the 19th century sentiment began to arise for the recognition of the
province of Huelva
Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva.
Its area is 10,1 ...
for its role in Columbus's first voyage, and what had come to be known as the
Discovery of the Americas
The prehistory of the Americas (North America, North, South America, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean) begins with people migrating to these areas from Asia during the height of an ice age. These groups are generally believed to have ...
. As the
celebration of the fourth centenary of the Discovery of the Americas approached, there was an intent to draw attention to the ''
Lugares colombinos'', the places in
Moguer
Moguer is a municipality and small city located in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. According to the 2022 census, it has a population of 22,623. Its surface area is , and its population density is .
The present site of Moguer had been h ...
and
Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera () is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva. According to the 2015 census, the cit ...
associated with the voyage. This movement began around 1880, led by the recently created
Real Sociedad Colombina Onubense (Royal Columbian Society of Huelva), who revived a similar idea initially put forward by Civil Governor Mariano Alonso y Castillo in 1855.
The first occurrence of the Columbian Festivals was an immediate success in Huelva and in nearby Palos de la Frontera. Setting the nautical tone, the Captain General of the Maritime Departament of
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
,
Luis Hernández-Pinzón Álvarez, descendant of co-discoverer of the Americas,
Martín Alonso Pinzón
Martín Alonso Pinzón, (; Palos de la Frontera, Huelva; c. 1441 – c. 1493) was a Spanish mariner, shipbuilder, navigator and exploration, explorer, oldest of the Pinzón brothers. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his Voyages of Christoph ...
, attended on August 3. Several vessels of the Spanish Navy were also present. More than 15,000 people gathered at the
Monastery of La Rábida in Palos for a "disembarkation" of the Spanish navy and for a fireworks show.
Despite the city already having the festival of La Cinta, the new festivities took root rapidly. In those early years, the festivities included outdoor
masses, literary competitions, visits to La Rábida, and traditional sporting competitions. Beginning in 1925, when the Círculo Mercantil set up a booth, there began to be a massive celebration at the city quayside. From this point, the classic elements of an Andalusian fair began to attach themselves to the Columbian Festivals: booths (''casetas'': some of these are larger structures than is perhaps suggested by the English-language word "booth"), attractions, raffles, and spaces set aside for dancing.
The importance of the festivals in this era can be seen in the descriptions of them in the local press, such as this in 1924:
Every day one notes more animation for these patriotic festivals, that go far beyond the celebrations in earlier years.
And on the special illumination for the festivals:
Incredibly beautiful arches have been placed on the waterfront promenade, as well as on the promenades of Las Palmeras (the Palms) and El Balneario (the Baths), which will provide an unprecedented class of illumination, which has already come to be celebrated in all justice by the general public.
As for the presence of the Spanish Navy:
… it is expected that several warships will have anchored in our waters, to which effect Mister Marchena Colombo, president of the Columbian Society, has received a letter from the general in charge of the Naval department, announcing that the largest number of ships that circumstances permit will come to Huelva.
And on the institutional celebrations of 3 August commemorating Columbus's departure from Palos de la Frontera:
As is customary, on the third, the authorities of Huelva and associates of the Columbian Society will leave for La Rábida, where they will celebrate a mass in commemoration of that heard by Columbus and his intrepid co-voyagers before their departure from the port of Palos.
Growth and crisis of the festivities
Over the years, the Columbian Festivals began to become Huelva's leading celebration, winning out over religious and academic festivals, and became increasingly a festival of entertainment with massive attendance. It outgrew the capacity of its waterfront site and in 1943 moved to a less contained space, the Interior Port of Huelva.
Despite this expansion, and despite continuing to hold the fair in a maritime-related location, the maritime spirit of the festival began to fade, as can be seen in the complaint of then-mayor Francisco Montenegro, expressing openly that in comparison with his youth:
… those festivals that we came to know in our childhood years came closer to our hearts. And it was that they had more flavor of the sea and more emotion in its spiritual and evocative sense. They didn't hang so many fair lanterns on the old quayside promenades, but on the other hand the battleships ''Reina Regente'' and ''Pelayo'', together with other warships, filled the streets with white uniforms when the sailors came ashore.
By 1965, the celebrations were displaced a kilometer further south of the city, to what was then known as Avenida Francisco Montenegro, near the present-day
Estadio Nuevo Colombino
Estadio Nuevo Colombino is a multi-purpose stadium in Huelva, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Recreativo de Huelva. Football was first introduced to Spain in Huelva and it still hosts the annual ...
("New Columbian Stadium"). The structure of the fair was similar today's, although the booths were large permanent constructions, in open air to take advantage of the cool of the August nights. Three years later, the
bullfighting arena Plaza Monumental de Toros de Huelva opened adjacent to the fairgrounds; it ended up being demolished in the 1990s. This was a time of economic and demographic growth in the city thanks establishment of a development center (''Polo de Desarrollo''). Many of the new and growing businesses established their own booths in the fair district. Nonetheless, there was a decline in the late 20th century, and the city government—which needed land for a new
football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
—moved the fairgrounds again beginning in the year 2000. That year, a tradition began of dedicating a gate each year to a provincial building or institution.
''Las Colombinas'' today
![2007 Fiestas Colombinas 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/2007_Fiestas_Colombinas_003.jpg)
Today ''Las Colombinas'' is one of the most important fairs in Andalusia, a fair "of National Tourist Interest," with over 600,000 visits for its largely nocturnal schedule of activities. The fair district has been located since 2000 along the Huelva estuary, quite near its location from 1965 to 1999 and not far from the city center, adjacent to the Estadio Nuevo Colombino. Visitors enter the fair district through an entrance that is designed in imitation of an emblematic building of the city or province of Huelva (the "La Rábida" Institute, Casa Colón, the bullring of La Merced, the Gran Teatro, the Sanctuary of the
Virgin of El Rocío
The Virgin of El Rocío (also known as Madonna of El Rocío or Our Lady of El Rocío, es, Virgen del Rocío, ''Nuestra Señora del Rocío''; also, formerly, ''Nuestra Señora de los Remedios'' or ''Santa María de las Rocinas'' , Columbus's ship the ''
Santa María'', etc.).
The fair district is , with 68 booths (with a design similar to that of the
Seville Fair
The Seville Fair (officially and in es, Feria de Abril de Sevilla, "Seville April Fair") is held in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain. The fair generally begins two weeks after the Semana Santa, or Easter Holy Week.
The fair officially be ...
, with blue and white awnings). The streets in the fair district take names of characteristic places in the city: Muelle del Tinto, De las Canoas, Marismas del Titán, Punta del Sebo, and Club Marítimo de Huelva. There is also an area with about 70 attractions. The celebrations culminate with an interpretation of the ''Himno de Huelva'' ("Anthem of Huelva"), the
pasodoble
Pasodoble ( Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This military march gave rise ...
''
Mi Huelva tiene una ría'' by Maestro Molero, and a 45-minute fireworks display by pyrotechnicians from
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
.
Each year's festivals are dedicated to some Spanish city, Latin American country or some event of regional significance. Dedicatees in recent years have included
Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera () is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva. According to the 2015 census, the cit ...
,
Moguer
Moguer is a municipality and small city located in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. According to the 2022 census, it has a population of 22,623. Its surface area is , and its population density is .
The present site of Moguer had been h ...
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, the city of
San Sebastián, the
Canary Islands,
Galicia, the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
(Portugal),
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
,
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
,
Denominaciones de origen
The mainstream quality wine regions in Spain are referred to as '' denominaciones de origen protegidas (DOP)'' (similar to the French Appellations) and the wine they produce is regulated for quality according to specific laws, and in compliance ...
de Huelva,
El Rocío,
Recreativo de Huelva
Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...
, to the history of the festivals themselves, and—in 2008—to 175 years of Huelva's status as a provincial capital.
Bullfighting
![Plaza de toros de la Merced](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Plaza_de_toros_de_la_Merced.jpg)
Bullfights at the
Plaza de Toros de La Merced are part of the festivities. They constitute a parallel festival, and are probably the most successful aspect of the festivities. They begin several days before the festival proper, with an act of proclamation in the "León Ortega" School of Art in the El Matadero district.
Particularities
![2007 Fiestas Colombinas 005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/2007_Fiestas_Colombinas_005.jpg)
The Colombian Festivals, despite having an undoubtedly Andalusian style (and having become more like a typical Andalusian fair in the early 21st century), also has an Americanist aspect. Some of the booths may have music from various Latin American countries; others have more typically Andalusian music, for dances such as
sevillanas
''Sevillanas'' () are a type of folk music and dance of Sevilla and its region. They were derived from the Seguidilla, an old Castilian folk music and dance genre. In the nineteenth century they were influenced by Flamenco. They have a relat ...
, associated with
flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
, although unlike most Andalusian fairs it is not customary to attend the in traditional Andalusian dress.
The celebration are complemented by a series of cultural and sporting activities.
http://www.andalucia.org/eventos/fiestas-colombinas/
, Web oficial de turismo de Andalucía. "Música Junto a la Ría" ("Music along the estuary") is a series of concerts by groups from Huelva and elsewhere in Spain. There is also the Trofeo Colombino golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
tournament and pétanque
Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...
, archery, and handball competitions.
The festivities do retain a few nautical aspects: the Semana Náutica Colombina (Columbian Nautical Week), in collaboration with the Club Marítimo, as well as a fishing competition from an anchored dock and canoe
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle.
In British English, the ter ...
ing regattas.
The Trofeo Colombino football (soccer) tournament hosted by Recreativo de Huelva
Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...
at the Estadio Nuevo Colombino was originally part of the Columbian Festivals, but is now held later in August.
Gastronomy
The food at the festivals provides a chance to sample the gastronomy of Huelva and of Andalucia in general. Among the foods served are fried seafood, featuring various species from the Gulf of Cádiz
The Gulf of Cádiz ( es, Golfo de Cádiz, pt, Golfo de Cádis) is the arm of the Atlantic Ocean between Cabo de Santa Maria, the southernmost point of mainland Portugal and Cape Trafalgar at the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar. Two maj ...
such as langostino
''Langostino'' is a Spanish word with different meanings in different areas. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. Squat lobsters ...
, the "white prawn" ('), the ''coquina'' ('' Donax trunculus''), and cuttlefish. Traditional meat dishes include '' pinchitos'' (skewers of marinated pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
, cecina, and ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
). Some booths are specialized in preparing the beverage known as "'' ponche colombino''" ("Columbian punch"); a chamomile
Chamomile (American English) or camomile (British English; see spelling differences) ( or ) is the common name for several plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, ''Matricaria recutita'' and ''Anthemis nobilis'', are commonly us ...
beverage (''manzanilla'') is also popular.
Notes
External links
*
Fiestas Colombinas
official page
*
Ayuntamiento de Huelva (Huelva city government)
References
* Revista de feria "Colombinas 2007". Ayuntamiento de Huelva.
''Huelva Información'', 13 July 2008.
{{Authority control
Province of Huelva
Christopher Columbus
Festivals in Spain
Andalusian culture
Tourist attractions in Andalusia
Summer events in Spain