San Blas (Sant Blai in Valencian, Saint Blaise in English) was a Physician and is the patron saint of throat diseases and laryngologists. Weird, I know. San Blas Day is celebrated throughout Spain on the 3rd of February. He is traditionally revered as an “advocate against throat ailments” since one of the miracles attributed to him is the healing of a child who had a fish bone stuck in his throat.

Our apartment building is on a corner and the side street that our balcony looks over is Calle San Blas. So of course the street would play a major role in the fiesta and we got a birds-eye view from our balcony.

Saturday started with everyone in the street setting up tables and chairs and a stage and bar. And then each house was busy cooking in the streets and of course, since we are in Comunidad Valenciana, paella was the star of the show. (if you look closely you can see the very large paella pans) Then there was music, dancing and even tables set up to play cards.

They started at around 11am and finished up by midnight which surprised us as normally they would party until 3am.

However the next morning we realised why. At 9am there was a band that proceeded down the street and then left. It was very loud and was effectively an alarm for everyone to wake up.

The procession started a few hours later with the band, dancing and also the transfer of the image of the Saint to the church of the Santísima Trinitat where the Holy Mass is then celebrated.

The procession returned later in the day and in the evening there were lots of fireworks and strings of crackers that were tied to the bunting and were very loud and smokey.
It was great to have such a wonderful view of the procession and the celebrations.