The play starts with the initial call of the town crier announcing the arrival, early in the morning, of the dulcian player. The bell is rung three times to catch people’s attention and the dulcian player plays his first notes: the first parade of the festival begins. Then the mayor makes a speech inviting everyone to come to the celebration. The town crier then introduces the procession of Sant Antoni (Saint Anthony), with the dance “dels cavallets” (the “little horses”, or skirted hobby horses). The fishmonger then announces the Saint’s celebration, by imitating the sermon of the priest using a hagiographic tone. Then, interrupting the procession, the devil appears and incites everyone to follow him, but the angel appears and fights the Devil: the procession resumes. Then the “Cabut” (a big head) invites people to dance with other big heads and with giants to the sound of the dulcians. Once the march is over and people have returned to the main square, the town crier shouts and the bull is released (the effigy of a bull mounted on wheels), the balls fixated on the bull’s horns are set on fire and all the other rituals surrounding the ancestral rite of the “toro embolat” (the burning bull) begin, as the music of the dulcians still plays. The show and the festive episode itself end with the town crier announcing the final dance, which can be accompanied by songs and a bonfire.

Costume puppet

Skirted hobby horse

All audiences

Spain

Villarreal

Tales

Printed

Street theatre

Popular festival

Traditional music

Cult of the saints

Religious

Comical

Cover page of the edition of El dolçainer de Tales. Xarxa Teatre. Castelló: Diputació de Castelló, 1987.