Festivals & Fiestas

Moors and Christians Festival of Callosa d'en Sarrià

🇬🇧 English-friendly Free

📅 10 Oct–13 Oct 2026 · Callosa d'en Sarrià

Callosa's flagship four-day Moors and Christians fiesta, held annually since 1860, with thousands of costumed participants, parades, music bands, mock battles and processions filling the old town. The opening 'arrancà' kicks off at noon under ringing church bells.

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When
10 Oct 2026 – 13 Oct 2026
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Where
Town centre (festivities start in the main square / Plaça del Convent) · Callosa d'en Sarrià
🎟️
Price
Free to watch
🔁
Happens
Annual, the Saturday before the second Sunday of October (annual)
👥
Good for
Great for visitorsGood for expats

Callosa has been staging this fight between Moors and Christians since 1860, and four days each October the old town hands itself over to it entirely. Around a thousand locals march in their filaes, the costumed companies that split into two camps: Christian pirates, corsairs and the Knights of El Cid on one side, the Moorish Black Guard, Granadinos and Bedouins on the other. You'll hear the dolçaina, a reedy local woodwind, long before you see anyone.

The arrancà sets it all off at noon on the Saturday, bells going and the gunpowder starting. Across the weekend there are entry parades, the tiroteig with its volleys of musket fire, formal ambassador scenes traded between the two sides, and processions that wind through the centre. It's free to watch. Find a spot near the Plaça del Convent, stay for the noise and the smoke, and let the day run on.

Source: https://www.callosaenfestes.com/

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