El Tío de la Porra — the uncle with the baton
Every city, town, and village in Spain has its own unique celebration, and Gandia is no exception. Starting the last week in September each year, Gandians celebrate their week-long Fira i Festes (fair and festival).
It’s not the festival that’s unique, however. It’s the festival’s “symbol” — El Tío de la Porra, which translates (depending on how you do it) to “the uncle with the baton”, “the uncle with the stick”, or “the uncle with the bat”. One translation app even netted the results “the uncle with the [male member]”!
“He” (quoted here because both men and women can be Tíos) is the festival’s representative, including announcing the start of the entire celebration.
Where did El Tío de la Porra come from?
El Tío de la Porra is a fictional character who opens the celebration of the festivities in Gandia. Based on research, historian Josep Joan Coll reports that the origin of El Tío de la Porra dates back to the drum major of the national militia in the capital of La Safor. He was the transmitter of information for the government and the institutions of Gandia during the 19th century. One important item of news he used to transmit to the citizens was the start of the city’s festivities.
El Tío de la Porra is one of the few Valencian festive traditions that has been maintained uninterrupted for over 150 years (the first documented writing in which the Tio de la Porra is mentioned as the protagonist of the Fira i Festes dates back to 1871). Although activities were heavily curtailed in 2020 (and spread out for several weeks), and still somewhat limited in 2021, it was not completely cancelled. The logo for 2021 even featured a 150 in it to mark the sesquicentennial.
There are El Tío de la Porra statues and art all over Gandia. There’s bronze one outside of the Gandia Casa de Cultura.
An abstract Tío in the park behind the Casa de Cultura.
One on a nearby wall that’s made completely out of recycled materials like bottle caps, sponges, and plastic cups.
And even one as part of a children’s playscape in the nearby Plaza del Prado.
What’s up with the big nose and glasses?
The history of why El Tío wears a fake nose and large, dark-framed glasses is somewhat murky. No one seems to know exactly when or why this started. Even the “official” sites are unclear. Most local kids are taught that he is a farcical representation of one of Napoleon’s French soldiers who invaded Spain in 1808 (hence the French-style military costume). Although I sincerely doubt that those soldiers had big noses or wore dark-framed glasses, that’s the only story I could uncover. Even the store displays around Gandia are adorned with those items, so the historic reason might be unknown, but that doesn’t stop the representation from being everywhere.
In fact, El Tío de la Porra was declared an Asset of Local Relevance in 2012 at the request of the Gandia City Council, including his nose and glasses!
El Tío, the Fira i Festes, and the local kids
El Tío has a great meaning for the children of Gandia. The first day of the festival the Tíos visit all the schools and go down the halls and into the classrooms, beating drums. The kids know that means the school day has ended and they are all allowed to follow the Tíos onto the city’s streets. Many kids have their own drums and play along.
There are multiple troupes of Tíos that march through the city, followed by both children and adults.
One troupe we saw were all special needs, and although they were not as 100% in sync as some of the other troupes, they were grinning from ear to ear and having a ball. (This is not them — I didn’t include their picture for privacy purposes.)
The troupes of Tíos march from every direction and end up converging on the Ajuntament (city hall) plaza. There, they drum together for several minutes and at the end are celebrated with raucous applause and cheering by the crowd.
Because still images don’t really evoke the fun of a whole bunch of El Tíos de la Porra all drumming in sync, here is a video of them marching along the Paseo in Gandia, playfully tapping on kid’s drums as they go by. Here is another video of Tíos as they enter the Plaza del Ajuntament to join all the other troupes.
The Fira i Festes
El Tío de la Porra is a big part of Fira i Festes, but he isn’t the reason for the celebration. Fira i Festes honors Gandia’s patron, San Francisco de Borja, and is one of the oldest celebrations in the area, with origins dating back to 1310. That year, Jaime II granted permission to set up an annual market in the city. At that time, the first walls of Gandia and the church of Santa María were also built.
The fair itself is pretty typical for Spain and includes hundreds of activities, exhibitions, theater performances, concerts, a medieval street market, carnival rides and attractions, and, of course, fireworks.
El Tío de la Porra on the road
In 2021, to celebrate his 150th year, a small El Tío de la Porra figurine went on a world tour.
In 2022 his 90,000 km trip to 20 countries was highlighted by a series of posters on Gandia’s Paseo.
He visited Cape Town, South Africa; Bratislava, Slovakia; Boston, New York, and Chicago, USA; Berlin, Germany; Bergen, Norway; the small country of Andorra; London, England; Paris, France; Milan, Portofino, and Naples, Italy; Nova Scotia, Canada; Namibia; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Cairo, Egypt; Perth, Australia; Lagune de la Somone, Senegal; Teotihuacan, Mexico; Salzburg, Austria; and Tokyo, Japan. (Yes I know I’m missing 2 of the 20 countries he visited and I cannot figure out (nor find online) which they were.)
Here are a few of his stops.
We love the whole story and celebration of El Tío de la Porra here in Gandia. He may be unique to Gandia, but the idea of a special tradition in every city, town, and village is definitely not unique. It’s one of the things we love about living in Spain — there’s so much to discover and experience.
