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Motrl commemorates its least known fiesta |
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Tuesday, 13 January 2009 |
Not recognised elsewhere, but remembered in Motríl as the Day of the Earthquake, 13 January is when locals remember the stories their families told them of the day the earth moved in the town during the nineteenth century.
No official act in Motríl
Only a religious procession keeps the date alive now, but there are accounts of how hundreds of Motrileneans were affected by serious tremors in 1804 and 1884. Although only 2 people died in the first quake, with the town faithfully fortified, it was 1884 earthquake, which took greatest toll in Motríl with over 830 people dying on Christmas day. Intriguingly, it was the last two earthquakes recorded in Motríl in1993 and 1994 (curiously happening around the Christmas period as well), which inspired locals to initiate this day of commemoration on January 13, in hopes that the disaster should never recur.
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