Columbian Festivals

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 and Palos de la Frontera associated with the voyage.

This movement began around 1880, led by the recently created Real Sociedad Colombina Onubense (Royal Columbian Society of Huelva),[4] who revived a similar idea initially put forward by Civil Governor Mariano Alonso y Castillo in 1855.

Setting the nautical tone, the Captain General of the Maritime Department of Cádiz, Luis Hernández-Pinzón Álvarez, descendant of co-discoverer of the Americas, Martín Alonso Pinzón, attended on August 3.

[6]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.

[7]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.

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.

[9]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 ("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.

[12] 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.

Among the foods served are fried seafood, featuring various species from the Gulf of Cádiz such as langostino, the "white prawn" (Parapenaeus longirostris [es]), the coquina (Donax trunculus), and cuttlefish.