THE BONFIRES-88
1988, was another year of great changes in the FIREWORKS , a year in which, on the one hand, new distinctions and events were established, such as the “San Juan” Awards and the antecedent from the current “Coruñesas Pages” Cycle, and from another, figures that had been missing for years were recovered, such as the Children’s Major Meiga and the Children’s Honor Meigas that had stopped being named in 1975.
One year , therefore, of many innovations within the context of our party that, at that time, was already well established.
That year , we illuminated the idea of creating an Advisory Board, in order to reach beyond where we had reached that moment. Initiated the first steps, names such as José González Dopeso, Gerardo Mariñas Romero, Manuel Rodríguez Maneiro, Carlos Fernández Bastarreche, Bocelo, to name a few of them, joined the new advisory commission that began to open doors, until then closed for us.
It was a authentic revulsive that came to solve some of the pressing problems, especially the economic ones, that were drowning our festive initiatives almost from their origins.
With the Board advises fully functioning, we begin to set those HOGUERAS-88.
As first measure, the XIX Meiga Mayor of the Bonfires of San Juan was appointed, with this appointment falling on the young Coruña Silvia Fernández Toba, who was presented during the Festa da Danza das Meigas of that year, where it was also announced the appointment of the V Child Major Meiga, the Coruña girl Elena Vázquez de la Iglesia, daughter of the then Mayor, Francisco Vázquez, with which the figure of the Children’s Meigas were recovered after a long drought of thirteen years without verifying such appointment.
By its On the other hand, Silvia Fernández named María Fernández Tova, Dolores Blanco Rouco, Mónica López-Perales Mora, María Luisa Novoa-Cisneros García, Teresa Novoa-Cisneros García, Lucía Regaldíe Santiago, Teresa Rodríguez-Volta Rilo as Meigas of Honor Marta Souto Martínez.
Also, Elena Vázquez, named her Children’s Meigas of Honor, the girls Raquel Fernández Tova, Victoria Souto Suárez, Laura Pérez García, María Tilve Seoane, Elena Liste Quintela, Dolores Collazo Mato, Lucía Suárez Pardo, Rocío De Urda Muñoz, Covadonga Sierra Martí and Julia López García.
Immediately After these appointments, the organizational framework where the proclamation of the Children’s Major Meiga and the Children’s Meigas of Honor was to be framed was necessary. As a result of this search, the Feast of the Poetic Solstice emerged, whose structure we conceived similar to that of its elder sister that of the Aquelarre, setting the day of June 22 as that of its celebration.
Also in This year, the “San Juan” Awards were created, although we are dealing with this issue in detail in another chapter of our history.
Another of This year’s innovations, was the change operated in the San Juan Cavalcade. For the first time, floats were used to transport the Meigas, instead of the country cars that we had been using since 1971.
Does the reason? Very simple, each year the rent of the cars went up and its achievement became more complicated and difficult. The previous year, the rental of the three used in the Cavalcade of the HOGUERAS-87 , had meant an outlay of more than 100,000 pts. from then on, an important chapter that was increasingly difficult for us to assume.
By On the contrary, the floats offered us new possibilities, different models every year and, in many cases, we ourselves could participate in both its design and its construction. It was just about having imagination and good taste and making an economic contribution significantly lower than that of cars.
Again That year, we returned to the Valencian fallera industry to order our allegorical bonfire, just as we had done the previous year. For this, we resorted again to the fallero artist Enrique Burriel, entrusting him with the design of the Bonfires-88, knowing that we would be as satisfied as the previous year.
So it was , after a few days, he sent us his new project, this time with the central figure of a colossus holding with his hands a smiling sun and around the base a series of figures alluding to remarkable facts of the life of the city, the new Opera Palace, Deportivo, etc. Project that, of course, was approved and commissioned the ephemeral monument.
The HOGUERAS-88 , began on May 26, in the Restaurant” Os Arcados “, with the act of presentation of the program and of the older and children’s Meigas of that year. Gone is the “Festa da Danza das Meigas”, held on April 23.
The act presentation of the Meigas and the general program, was attended by Mayor Francisco Vázquez and the President of the Advisory Board, José González Dopeso, who took part in the act, making an evaluation of the < / span> HOUSEHOLDS that they were going to start, before a large number of guests and the media.
Two days then, on the 28th, the XVII Sports Week began, which included the participation of nine Basketball teams, five Handball, four Volleyball teams, all of them female, as well as seven football and eight Roller Hockey, male, playing also, a mixed chess competition. In total, seventy-five meetings of the different modalities, with the participation of more than 350 athletes.
The encounters they were disputed, for more than fifteen days, in the sports courts of Riazor and in the municipal soccer field of the Tower, constituting a complete success of participation and public assistant.
A partir del 3 de junio, comenzó a desarrollarse el program of the Theater, Music and Dance Days to which eight Theater Groups joined; several folk groups that participated in the “Folklore in the Street” Cycle and two Bands of Music.
The Days they were developed, in addition to day 3, from 14 to 23, continuously, using different frames, both closed and outdoors.
For On June 16, 17, 18 and 21, three conferences and a poetic evening were scheduled that constituted an antecedent of the current “Coruña Pages” Cycle, even though, that year, they did not receive this name.
To do so There was the competition of the anthropologist José Antonio Fernández de la Rota and the journalists Roberto L. Moskowich and Manuel Rodríguez Maneiro.
In addition to the aforementioned, within the section of social events, on the night of the 18th, the Feast of Witches and Witches was held at the “Cassely” disco.
Days June 19 and 20, were the ones dedicated to the little ones, with the departure of the comrade of Cabezudos of the Commission and the celebration of the “Children’s Day”, in which a children’s party was programmed with games and activities for the most small.
The program Social activities were completed with several visits to the city’s charities; with the receptions offered by the City Council, Captaincy General, as well as with the celebration, on the 22nd, of the I Festival of the Poetic Solstice, proclamation act of Elena Vázquez de la Iglesia as V Meiga Mayor Infantil, and on the 23rd, with the XVII Festival of the Poetic Coven, proclamation act of Silvia Fernández Toba as XVIII Meiga Mayor, both parties being celebrated in the restaurant “Os Arcados”, with the presence of numerous Authorities and the general public.
In these Festivities, José González Dopeso, in the Aquelarre, and Ezequiel Pérez Montes, in the Solstice, served as maintainers.
As we have noted earlier in this edition of the Fiesta del Aquelarre was the first in which the “San Juan Awards” were delivered, which in this first edition corresponded to Francisco Vázquez Vázquez, Mayor of La Coruña; José González Dopeso; to the Artisan Recreational and Instructional Meeting; to the journalist Bocelo and the musical group “The Lemons of the Caribbean”.
In the on the morning of the 23rd, in the church of San Francisco (PP. Franciscans), the traditional Offering to San Juan was celebrated and, at eight in the afternoon, after the participating groups and bands animated the streets of downtown, from the María Pita Square, started the first part of the Cavalcade, with the participation of several Bugle and Drum Bands, Folklore Groups and Music Bands.
First Once, as noted above, the Meigas paraded on floats, abandoning forever the custom of doing so in cars in the country. The floats were made, that year, by the unforgettable Enrique Lago.
After the Fiesta del Aquelarre, which started at nine o’clock at night, set off the second part of the Cavalcade that led Silvia Fernández Toba and Elena Vázquez de la Iglesia, along with her Meigas de Honor and Meigas de Honor Infantiles, to the Plaza de Portugal where, before thousands of people who crowded both the avenue of Calvo Sotelo and the square of Portugal, they consummated the rite of the purifying fire of San Juan, after seeing how a large collection of fireworks went off.
It was this Noite da Queima, the first in which the older and children’s Meigas participated together.
That night San Juan, was completed with the performance, in the square of Portugal, of the group “The Lemons of the Caribbean” that ended the HOGUERAS-88.
And so on , were those HOGUERAS-88 , in which we retrieve the figure of the Children’s Major Meiga and the Meigas paraded through the streets of La Coruña mounted on floats.
José Eugenio Fernández Barallobre.