When I studied abroad in Alicante, Spain, I had no idea I’d be witnessing an almost-century-old local tradition. I was only there for a month, so what are the odds I’d be there doing this culturally substantial festival? Turns out, I was in for a treat. As my Spanish teacher in Spain explained to us, the Hogueras festival is an Alicante-specific celebration where each section of the city builds a giant statue out of papier-mâché and then burn them all in a big midnight bonfire. I thought these statues were going to look shabby because they were ultimately created to be burned, but I was wrong. Walking around town, I saw the deliberate and careful assembly of these statues, which you couldn’t tell were made of papier-mâché at all.

My Spanish class with my teacher Cristina and some classmates from all over the world 

The assembly of a beautiful Hogueras statue 

In the week leading up to the bonfires, the city became considerably more crowded. The public transit system started banning bikes and scooters on the trains, because they needed all the space they could get. The risk of pickpockets increased, and our group leader kept telling us all to hold tightly to our phones and never put things in our back pockets. There were festivals and events happening every day, and we got three days off school. Luckily, my apartment was located on a major street, so we could see many of the festivals from our balcony.  

Confetti all over the ground from a Hogueras celebration 

The view from my balcony of a Hogueras parade 

The festivals mainly consisted of girls walking down the street in pretty traditional Spanish dresses. There was also an invisible firework show, where we all stared at the sky and heard deafening melodic booms that made my heartbeat rhythm. I had never heard of invisible fireworks before, and you’d think it defeats the entire purpose of fireworks, but it was a surprising musical ceremony that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. 

A close-up of the traditional dresses Spanish women wear during parades 

The invisible fireworks (note the small puffs of what look like clouds—those are the explosions!) 

My group took advantage of the days off school and explored some gorgeous scenery around town. We went to the beach and swam in the clear blue water, and hiked up Mount Benacantil, which has a historic castle on top.  

Probably my favorite picture of an Alicante beach—the water was super warm and deep 

The famous Mount Benacantil with a castle on top 

There was even time for a friend and me to fly to France and spend some time in Bordeaux eating crème brûlée and seeing cathedrals. Overall, Hogueras made my time in Spain much more special than it probably would have been otherwise. It’s a beautiful thing to witness another city’s traditions, I’m lucky I had that crash course in local culture. 

My friend and I in France, eating Crème Brûlée for breakfast 

Me in front of a French cathedral that looks like Notre Dame