El “Misteri d’Elx” (the Elche's Mystery), the city's most deeply-rooted cultural symbol, is a medieval drama that was declared by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the World's Oral and Intangible Heritage in the year 2001.
It is performed every year on August 14th (first act) and 15th (second act), although prior extraordinary performances (full dress-rehearsals) take place earlier on 11th, 12th and 13th. The drama is performed in the Santa Maria Basilica and narrates the Dormition, Assumption and Coronation in Heaven of the Virgin. This drama has survived thanks to the passion of a whole city. After plays in churches in churches were prohibited by the Council of Trent, Elx obtained from the Pope Urbano VIII in 1632 a bull to keep this "Festa" alive. Now, it is the last surviving example of this kind of plays thanks to the determination of people from Elche. The music of the "Misteri" dates from different periods and has Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque melodies, with examples of monody and polyphony. It is performed by a non-professional adult choir and a children's choir to play the Virgin and the angels.
However, the most distinguishing factor in the "Misteri d’Elx" is the complex medievally-inspired production, dividing the scenographic space into an horizontal-terrestrial and a vertical-aerial stage, and the use of aerial devices which turn this drama into a spectacular experience.
In the centre of the Basilica's transept there is a square stage (cadafal) that is accessed by a ramp (andador). Most of the action takes place here. In the vertical space of the stage, a false ceiling is installed in the base of the dome.
Once the Gates of Heaven are opened, with the help of a complex piece of stage machinery, an angel with a message first comes down in the “magrana”, followed by a choir of angels or “araceli”, to guide the Virgin in her Assumption to Heaven, where she is crowned by Eternal God from a third aerial device called "Trinitat". At the moment of the coronation, a shower of tinsel falls down from heaven and the aerial devices and fills the atmosphere with a bright golden rain, undoubtedly the most moving moment of the "Festa".
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The "Festa" or "Misterio de Elche" is a medieval-rooted drama divided into to acts, which is performed every year on August 14th and 15th in the Santa Maria Basilica. The drama recreates the Death, Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, Mother of Jesus, and in general it shows numerous noteworthy artistic and historical aspects. Likewise, it is the only play of this kind that still survives in spite of the official prohibitions by the Council of Trent regarding performances inside churches, so it is a piece with a unique and exceptional value to study medieval religious theatre in Europe. That is why the UNESCO declared it as a Masterpiece (the first Spanish Masterpiece) of the World's Oral and Intangible Heritage in the year 2001.
The action of the Elche's Mystery is based on the traditional stories about the Assumption of the Virgin that were orally passed on in the first years of Christianity and that, since the 4th century, were gathered in the so-called Apocrypha.
The more important Assumption Apocrypha are those by John the Theologian (4th and 5th centuries), the Transitus by the Pseudo Meliton (6th century), the narration of John, the Archbishop of Thessalonica (7th century) and, the latest one, the story of the Pseudo Joseph of Arimathea (9th and 10th? centuries), which is the story with more elements in common with the "Misteri". The Apocrypha show some differences and were rewritten in the 13th century by Jacobo de Varazze in his Golden Legend, a medieval book of saints' lives, which was widely spread all over the medieval Europe and also influenced in the writing of the drama "Misteri d'Elx".
The origin of the "Misteri" hasn't been exactly determined yet due to the lack of documented evidences. There are two local traditions about its start. One of them links the creation of the "Festa" with the conquest of the Moorish Elche by the Aragonese troops of Jaume I of Aragon in 1265, in other words, with the conversion of the town to the Christianity. Another legendary tradition tries to give a miraculous origin to the "Misteri" and relates it with the arrival or "Venida" of the statue of the Virgin on December 29th 1370. Thus, the work of the "Festa" would have been found, together with the Virgin statue taking part in it, in a wooden chest that floated in the Mediterranean Sea waters, on the Tamarit Beach (today in Santa Pola), and this chest was found by Francesc Cantó, a coast guard .
However, researches that have been recently carried out both on the play and on the European medieval theatre in general suggest the second half of the 15th century - a period in which a peak in the Assumptionist theatre- as the most probable period for the "Misteri d'Elx".
If we have a look at the historical documents about the drama, we will see it was firstly organized by some families from the small local nobility, as the Perpinyas or the Caros. The most ancient reference to the "Festa" we know up to date appears in the will of an inhabitant of Elche, Isabel Caro, in 1523, in which she bequeathed some funds to continue a "great festival and solemnity" that religious people in the city celebrated in the Santa Maria Church during the Assumption of the Mother of God festivity, in honour of a statue of the Virgin she had at home which, after her death, would pass to the San Sebastian Hermitage.
There are evidences of the existence in the city in 1530 of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Assumption that, located in the aforementioned San Sebastian Hermitage, was responsible for preparing this festivity. "Clavarios" (constables) and "mayordomos" (butlers) chaired this brotherhood that, apart from the contributions of the members of the brotherhood and the collected alms, received annual funds from the Municipal Council.
However, the lack of economic resources and the fact that not many people wanted to govern the Brotherhood put the "Misteri" in danger of disappearing in the last years of the 16th century. It was in 1609 when, once and for all, the Council of the city agreed to take charge of the organization and financing of the "Festa". For that purpose, it established a series of local taxes, among which we must mention the taxes on grain milling and on the sale of meats. In this sense, we must point out the existence in the city of an administration, called the "arroba" of oil, which collected alms devoted to the Virgin consisting in an "arroba" (unit of weight of between 11 and 16 kg) of oil for every boiler that the important soap industry used in Elche (16th-18th centuries). The income from this administration was mainly used to maintain the stage machinery for the drama and to pay the salaries of the musicians and singers.
But in the first third of the 17th century, the Mystery was once again in danger. This time, the Orihuela Bishopric, following the Trent guidelines, tried to prohibit the performance of the "Misteri" on the ground that it was held inside a church. The Elche Council appealed before the Valencia Royal court and managed to got Pope VIII to sign a rescript in which the performance of the Elche's Mystery in the Santa Maria Basilica was allowed in perpetuity.
But this won't be the only friction between the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities as regards the organization of the "Festa". In the 70s, owing to an exemption on local taxes for the clergy, and in 1734 -due to a conflict in the appointment of the Choirmaster- the problems between both strata became worse although, at last, the rights of the Council (based on the customs and traditions of the city) prevailed.
In the last years of the 18th century, with the prohibition of the scene called the "Judiada" due to the altercations it caused, and in the first years of the 19th century, with the suppression of the Elche musical chapel, the "Misteri" fell into a period of clear artistic decline, a decline that became more accentuated in the last third of the 1800s, both because of the lack of economic resources for the drama and the instability in local public offices (the Choirmaster, for example) and because people from Elche, including the authorities, didn't give the "Misteri" too much importance.
As the result of a campaign to raise public awareness promoted in the city by the erudite chronicler Pere Ibarra y Ruiz, the "Board for the Protection of the Elche's Festa" was created in 1924, a board that made the stage and musical revision of the piece possible. The score was polished by the musician from Alicante Oscar Esplá who, among other things, recovered the "Judiada" scene. This restoring period recovered part of the former splendour of the drama and finished in 1931 when the "Misteri" was declared National Monument by the 2nd Republic Government.
After the Spanish War (1936-1939), the called "National Board for the Restoration of the Elche's Mystery and its Temples" was organized. Its main purpose was the reconstruction of the Santa Maria Church (burnt down in February 1936) as well as the starting of the performances of the "Misteri" that have been suspended during the war. Once the restoration tasks were finished, this Board turned in 1948 into the "National Board of the Elche's Mystery" that, to the present day, is responsible for the organization of this Assumptionist drama. This work is economically supported by different organisms as the Generalitat Valenciana, the Elche Town Council and the Alicante Provincial Council. The Elche's Mystery is performed in the beautiful Santa Maria Basilica, a Baroque-style temple. It started to be built in under the management of the architect Francesc Verde. It was erected on the site formerly taken up by other religious buildings devoted to Saint Mary in her Passing: The Muslim mosque, consecrated to Christian worship by Jaime I after the conquest of 1265, a Gothic-style church (1334-1492) and a Renaissance style (1492?-1672). The building works in the temple, which lasted more than one hundred years, were made under the guidance of Pere Quintana (1674-1678), Joan Fauquet (1681-1719), Fr. Francisco Raimundo (1720-1727) and Marcos Evangelio (1754-1767). Nicolás de Bussy, author of the important Main Front and the San Agantangelo Front, intervened in the ornamentation with his sculptures. Finally, the building was consecrated in 1784, after finishing the Neoclassical Communion Chapel, which was designed by Lorenzo Chápuli and built by José Gonzálvez de Coniedo. The church has been declared Notable (1789) y Minor Basilica (1951).
The stage itself is divided into two very different areas: the horizontal or "terrestrial" stage and the vertical or "aerial" stage.
The "terrestrial" stage consists in a square stage or "cadafal" erected on the centre of the Basilica's transept (slightly introduced in the presbytery), which is crowned with a small rail of Solomonic balusters, covered by a thick carpet and lit with twelve candlesticks. Its location in the geometric centre of the church allows the audience to see the performance from the fourth sides, according to the medieval tradition.
From the main door of the temple - located at the foot of the central nave- all the characters of the drama, except those descending directly from the sky, gain access the "cadafal" or stage by means of a sloping ramp called "andador". Along this corridor, in the pilasters of the nave, there are three groups of sculptures or small altars representing important landscapes in the Passion of Jesus: the Getsemani Orchard, Calvary Mount and the Saint Sepulchre.
The aerial or vertical stage is installed in the dome of the church that, during the performance of the "Festa", symbolizes heaven. The dome is completely covered on the base of its main annulet with a big canvas painted with clouds and angels. In this canvas there is only one square opening -placed eccentrically towards the presbytery- that is opened and closed by means of sliding doors, "the gates of heaven". Over the canvas, hidden for the audience, a small projected wooden stage is installed so that the sceneshifters can carry out the required tasks and operations to bring up and down the aerial devices with the celestial characters.
There are three aerial devices. The "Nube" (cloud) or "Granada", in which the angel announcing Mary her death descends, consists in two octagonal corbels joined by four iron bars. The eight segments of the device completely close and the surface of the whole piece is painted red, so it shows a spherical appearance when it goes into and out of heaven; however, when it descends some metres, these segments are opened by means of strings and inside -completely covered in tinsel- we can see a child playing the role of an angel. There are quite documented evidences of this kind of aerial devices in medieval performances, mainly in aulic ceremonies -the first reference, as Francesc Massip states, appears in the coronation of Martin el Humano in 1399- which were very successful since their location allowed their occupant to hide in these machines and appear in the right moment.
The second aerial device in the "Festa" is the "Recelica" or "Araceli". It looks like an altarpiece: the so-called Main Angel, standing, appears in the centre and surrounding him, four characters, on their knees, representing angels are divided into two upper and two lower corbels, two adults up and two children down. In the second act of the "Misteri", the aforementioned Main Angel is replaced by the statue of the Virgin of the Assumption -the Elche's Patron Saint- venerated in the Santa Maria Basilica. As the "Granada", the "Araceli" is also a medieval theatre device and arose from the Christmas performances of the Vision of the Sybil.
The third aerial stage machine used in the Elche's Mystery is the called "Coronacion" (Coronation) or "Trinidad" (Trinity). It is a machine with an altarpiece structure, similar to the "Araceli" but smaller. In the centre, there is a throne in which the singer playing Eternal Father is sitting and on both sides, on two corbels, two children representing the other two members of the Holy Trinity are kneeling. This third aerial machine seems to date back from a later period than the previous ones and it might have its origins in Elche, since there are no references to similar devices in other performances.
These three stage machines go up and down by means of thick ropes -one for the "Granada" and a shorter one for the "Coronacion"- which are moved through two winches handled manually and located in the terraces of the presbytery of the church.
The singers who do not descend from "heaven" get dressed and make up out of the temple, in the San Sebastian Hermitage, a small chapel from the 15th century in which, in one of its altars, the statue of the Virgin of the Assumption was venerated until 1648 and located about fifty metres from the Santa Maria Church. At the beginning of the drama, the singers leave this Hermitage in a small festive cortège preceded by the Municipal Music Band so also the streets of Elche become a part of the "Fests". A stage that extends to the whole old walled city when, in the morning of the festivity of the Assumption of the Virgin, the procession-burial of Mary takes place. The recumbent statue of the Virgin is carried by the characters appearing in the "Misteri" and accompanied by people from Elche.
Although the festivals that the city of Elche dedicates to the Assumption of the Virgin focus on the performances of the Mystery in the Santa Maria Basilica, there are also a number of acts, ceremonies and solemnities -both religious and secular- around it which, together, for the called "Festa" of Elche.
THE AUDITION OF VOICES
THE ANGEL'S REHEARSAL
FULL-DRESS REHEARSALS
THE "NIT DE L' ALBÀ"
THE "VESPRA"
THE "ROÀ"
THE PROCESSION-FUNERAL
THE "FESTA"
THE "SALVES" (Salve Regina prayers) FOR THE VIRGIN
"SALVE" (Salve Regina prayer) OF THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST
AUTUMN CYCLES
THE ARRIVAL OF THE VIRGIN
THE AUDITION OF VOICES (August 6th)
The first official act of the "Festa" is the called "Prova de Veus" (audition of voices), which takes place in the afternoon of August 6th in the Meeting Hall of the Elche Town Council.
In this audition, the voices for the roles in the Mystery played by children are judged by the Association responsible for the organization of the "Misteri", chaired by the Mayor of this city. In fact, this chairmanship and the place where the audition takes place are reminiscent of the period of time when the "Misteri" was exclusively kept by the Town Council. In those years, the "Consell" (Council) of the city chose the singers for the religious drama after testing their voices and musical training.
The audition of voices, nowadays merely symbolic, is brief and in it, required by the Choir Master, the children who will play the Virgin Mary, the angel in the "Granada" and the characters in the "Araceli" and the "Coronacion" sing.
THE ANGEL'S REHEARSAL (August 10th)
Four days later, on August 10th -the festivity of Saint Lawrence- the called "Prova de l'Angel" (the angel's rehearsal) takes place at 18.00 h. in the Santa Maria Basilica.
This ceremony, which was organized in order to test the serenity of the characters who will descend on the aerial machines of the "Misteri" -particularly the children- as well as the perfect working of the "heaven" stage machine, has also undergone some changes all over the years. In the past, it was completely informal: heaven/aerial devices -the Granada, the Araceli and the Coronacion- appeared without the tinsel covering and their occupants didn't wear their angelic clothes. Likewise, children, both from the city and from the country, completely crowded the temple to attend this act and played an important role in it. These children, equipped with fruits -preferably quinces- to quench their thirst in the hot afternoon, ended up turning this church into a battle when throwing each other -and even the young actors-the leftovers of the fruit.
Once this tradition disappeared around the 50s in the 20th century, the "Prova de l'Angel" has become a pre-performance of the "Festa" in which it is only possible to admire the three aerial stage machines (already decorated), that is to say, the most spectacular part in this Assumptionist drama. Children from Elche are still the unconditional spectators of this celebration.
Entrance to the church is, of course, free and this act lasts approximately one hour.
FULL-DRESS REHEARSALS (August 11th, 12th and 13th)
In the year 1924, in order to correct and remove from the performances of the "Festa" a series of defects accumulated all over the years -above all in the decline suffered by the Mystery in the 19th century- the Board for the Protection of the Mystery (created for that purpose) revised this religious drama. And in order to achieve an exact fitting together of the singers and all the stage elements, it was necessary to hold a full-dress rehearsal. However, researchers and public figures were allowed to attend this rehearsal. Since this act was performed behind closed doors, in absolute silence, without the festive murmur caused by the numerous spectators attending the traditional performances, it was enthusiastically received by these experts.
This rehearsal gradually gained importance and was held in the afternoon of August 13th. The doors of the church were closed and people can only enter the temple with an invitation (which they must previously ask for). Other rehearsals in the previous years were then organized with the passing of time due to the increase in the number of interested people. Nowadays, there are three rehearsals: on August 11th and 12th, at 22.30 h. and on August 13th at 17.30 h. You must buy the corresponding ticket to enter the temple.
We must mention that in these rehearsals the complete performance of the Mystery can be seen, that is to say, its two acts with a short break of about fifteen minutes between them. However, there are some changes and deletions so that the performances do not exceed two hours. These deletions refer to some Virgin Mary's chants, as well as to the scene of the Araceli's descent at the end of the first act. On the other hand, since they are only rehearsals, the final coronation of the statue of the Virgin is merely symbolic: a plentiful rain of tinsel falls down, but not the imperial crown prescribed by the Mystery libretto or "consueta".
THE "NIT DE L' ALBÀ" (Night of August 13th)
On August 13th, at night, another interesting festive event takes place in the town of Elche. It is the called "Nit de l'Albà". Late in the afternoon, the streets of the city get crowded with people of all ages and conditions who burn fireworks: rockets, bangers, thunders, "carretillas" (rocket-like devices that spin around on the ground), etc...
Around 23'00 h. the festival moves to the terraces of the houses and from them, more rockets and "palmeras" (firework displays) are thrown. For an hour, without stopping, the city is completely full of lights and colours. It is not a firework display as usual: people burn fireworks so they become, at the same time, spectators and part of the festival. All these rockets and "palmeras" make night seem day, as it is stated in a text from the 17th century.
A good number of "palmeras" are thrown from some terraces in the centre of the town by official authorities, industries and establishments. At 23.30 h. the offering firework display starts and thousands of rockets are burnt in an offering of light and sound to the Virgin the day before her Dormition. At midnight, once all the lights in the city are turned off, a huge firework "palmera" is launched from the bell tower of the Santa Maria Basilica and, for a moment, it illuminates the whole city. This is the "palmera" called "la Mare de Deu" and is paid by the Town Council. After that, on the same bell tower, the bells ringing, an image of the Elche's Patron Saint in fire burst into life and can be seen from all the terraces in Elche.
People end up this night having dinner in the terraces, eating the refreshing watermelon and drinking the typical "nugolet", a mixture of eau-de-vie and fresh water. In the streets, the bravest people will take part of the "guerra de carretillas" (a simulated war with "carretillas" and jumping jacks) well into the small hours.
THE "VESPRA" (August 14th)
On August 14th, Elche gets ready to fully celebrate the high point of its "Festa". At 17'15 h., in the Basilica (open to the public), the solemn Vespers for the Assumption of the Virgin are sung. The clergy of the Santa Maria Basilica, bearing a cross, candlesticks and censers, walk over the ramp called "andador" up to the "cadafal" (stage). On this stage, accompanied by the music from the organ, the hymn, the different antiphons of the psalmody and the response are sung and finally this act finishes with the Magnificat and the final prayers.
Once this ceremony finishes, at 18.00 o'clock, after the three bell strokes that half an hour before announce this act, the cortège of the Mystery leave the San Sebastian Hermitage, at the high street of the old walled town. This hermitage, nowadays housing the Municipal Museum of the "Festa", has been always used as a changing room by the actors of this religious drama and is about fifty metres from the Santa Maria Church.
The temple, which opens an hour before, is completely packed. The nave, the transept, the presbytery, the balconies, the pulpits and even some altars are crowded. So, it is advisable to get into the Santa Maria Basilica in plenty of time to get a good place. It is also traditional -and advisable- to carry a fan in order to lighten a bit the intense heat of an afternoon in August.
The "Vespra" act, with the Virgin's death and her ascent to heaven, finishes at 19'30 h. Once the temple is empty, the statue of the recumbent Virgin will be place in the centre of the stage on a processional board decorated with candles and flowers. It will be exhibited like this to be venerated by the faithful during the whole night and could be visited at any time. since the church is kept open until the following day.
THE "ROÀ" (Night of August 14th)
At midnight on August 14th and after the serenade sung to the Virgin from the Basilica entrance, the "Roa" starts. It is an original ceremony that consists in a kind of individual procession, bearing a candle, through the streets along which the Virgin will pass in her funeral the following day and which coincide, approximately, with the perimeter of the old medieval walled town. People taking part in this act start in the front door of the Santa Maria Basilica and go along the Urbena Street, the Major Street, the Plaça de Baix, the Corredora Street, the Pont dels Ortissos, the Capita Lagier Street and then they go back the Basilica.
However, the most surprising fact in the "Roa" is that, although nobody organizes it, the faithful are always in procession during the whole night. And even some people do the procession several times, offering their walking to deceased or ill relatives. People of all ages, conditions and ideologies, above all people from the country, take part in this ceremony. And from 4 o'clock in the morning, masses are celebrated on the stage of the Santa Maria Basilica, before the sleeping Virgin.
On the other hand, in the streets, in the avenues, in other places, the pagan side of the festival is celebrated. Dances, music and games take place during the whole night, a night at which nobody in Elche sleeps.
THE PROCESSION-FUNERAL (August 15th)
At 10'00 h. in the morning, preceded by its standard carried by the Gentlemen Standard Bearers and the Elected Gentlemen, the statue goes out and is carried by apostles and jews, that is to say, the actors of the "Misteri", on their shoulders. The statue of Mary, lying on the processional board, with her face covered by a death mask, is borne under a canopy and followed by the Marys and the cortège angels. The retinue is headed by Saint Peter, wearing the chapsule. A great number of people from Elche, the clergy of the Santa Maria Basilica, the maids of the Virgin, members of the Board of the Mystery and local authorities also take part in the procession. The municipal music band closes the procession.
Thus, the scene of the funeral of the Virgin performed in the second act is expanded and all the faithful are allowed to take part in it. Likewise, this procession turns the whole city in a stage for this Assumptionist drama.
The funeral passes along the same streets than the "Roa". Both at the beginning and the end of the procession, and also during it, numerous strings and salutes of firecrackers are fired for the Virgin. Once the procession ends, a solemn mass is celebrated. In it, the priest is this who preaches in the "Salves" (Salve Regina prayers) in the eight days following to the Assumption.
THE "FESTA" (August 15th )
At the same time than the previous day, at 17.15 h., the Santa Maria clergy sings again the Solemn Vespers of the Assumption before the Virgin, which is already prepared for the second act of the Mysteryy. And at 18.00 h. the second act starts.
If on the eve it was difficult to find a free space in the church, it is even more difficult in the day of the "Festa" so it is essential to arrive to the temple earlier. Anyway, the performance can also be followed outside the Santa Maria Basilica, above all the coronation of the Virgin -the high point of the religious drama-, since the doors of the Basilica are open. Particularly from the front door where, moreover, a huge marquee is installed to protect people from the afternoon's sun.
At 19'00 h., once the performance finishes with the excitement of the people from Elche, the ringing of the bells, the music from the organ and the firing of rockets, the church empties gradually. The luckiest people will have achieved a leaf of Saint John's palm or a piece of tinsel fallen from heaven. A bit after, in absolute silence, the statue of Mary brought down from the dome in the Araceli. This time, the angels in the aerial machine hold a golden crown over the head of the statue. In the stage, actors will leave the Recelica and once empty, it will go back to heaven.
The stage is immediately dismantled and the ramp ("andador") in order to install, next to the tabernacle of the temple's high altar, another small stage. In it, a bed made of ebony wood with bronze and silver ornaments is placed. It was donated to the Virgin of the Assumption by the Duke of Aveyro and Marquis of Elche in the 18th century. The statue of Mary is placed lying on this bed, with a death mask, and thus it will be exhibited so that people can venerate it in the following eight days.
THE "SALVES" FOR THE VIRGIN (From August 16th to August 22nd)
On August 16th, festivity of San Roque, as a final point to the Festa, a holy mass is held in honour of all people taking part in the celebrations who have deceased all over the year in the private chapel of the Town Hall. This chapel, with a privilege granted by Pope Clemente VIII, consists in a small altarpiece of golden carved wood with a painting of the Virgin of the Assumption, a work by Brother Antonio de Villanueva (1747) and is located in the Meeting Hall of the Town Council.
In the evening, at 20'00 h., as in the following days until August 22nd, the "Salves" (Salve Regina prayers for the Virgin are celebrated during a period of eight days.
This period of eight days starts with a holy mass held by a priest invited by the Santa Maria Parish church. After the mass, the clergy towards the recumbent Virgin, a Solemn "Salve" is sung and then, from the balcony of the organ, the "Gozos" (joys) of the Assumption are intoned. These "gozos" are sung by a tenor, a bass and several sopranos of the Chapel of the Mystery, are closely linked to the lyrics and music of the "Festa".
"SALVE" OF THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST
On August 31st, at 22'30 h., the last act in the month of the Assumption is celebrated. It is a small religious ceremony in the Santa Maria Church, with a commented rosary and a "Salve". The celebration is headed by the statue of the Patron Saint, now in her "camarin" (room where the jewels, clothes, etc. belonging to the statue of the Virgin are kept) in the temple. After this act, a "palmera" (firework display in the shape of a palm tree) is fired from the bell tower of the Basilica.
THE AUTUMN CYCLES (Last days of October and November 1st in even years)
In order to commemorate the declaration of the Assumption of the Virgin to heaven as a dogma of the Catholic Church, announced by H.H. Pio XII on November 1st 1950, every two years -to be more precise, in the years finishing in an even number- an extraordinary cycle of performances of the Mystery take place for this festivity. Since 1990, also the "Festival de Teatre i Música Medieval d'Elx" (Elche's Festival of Medieval Music and Theatre) is held on these dates, a festival that makes this city a compulsory referent in the medieval world.
Although there might be some changes, above all regarding the days and times for the full-dress rehearsals -adapted to the circumstances every year- we may say that, in general, there are usually two rehearsals at night in the last days of October, where it is necessary to buy the corresponding ticket.
And on November 1st, All Saints' Day, the first act or "Vespra" is performed at 10.00 h. in the morning (entrance is free). Once it finishes, the procession-funeral of the Virgin passes along the traditional streets. Then at 17.00 h. the second act or "Festa", with the coronation of the Virgin, takes place.
In these autumn cycles, however, the other acts and ceremonies in the august festiva
