to surprise the Moors; else rallying Christian forces during the battle. The feast day of St. James is 25 July, so some of the Moors' and Christians' festivals occur at the end of July. La Vila Joiosa / Villajoyosa celebrates it in the last week of July, with a reenactment of the Berber pirate attack of 1538 (desembarc), according to tradition repelled when St. Martha (feast day 29 July) sent a flash flood. Especially in northern and western Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community, and other places), parades associated with Corpus Christi celebrations may feature gigantic costumed Moors and Christians, also commemorating the Reconquest. Other noteworthy Moors and Christians festivals are celebrated in the towns of Bocairent (a Medieval town, 1–5 February), Banyeres de Mariola (22-25 April), Villena with approximately 12,000 participants (most crowded festival), Almoradí (early August), Biar, Cocentaina, Crevillent, El Campello, Elche, Elda, Muro d'Alcoi, Oliva, Ontinyent (late August), Orihuela, Petrel, Sax, Novelda, Monforte del Cid, and some districts of the city of Alicante. Andalusia also has very interesting Moors and Christians performances, especially in the former Moorish kingdom of Granada. Performances are mostly organized in rural towns and villages, such as Válor, Granada, a small town in the Eastern Alpujarras. Spaniards took this tradition overseas. In the Philippines, fiestas often include a moro-moro play. The show begins with a parade of stars in colorful costumes: Christians wear blue costumes, while Moors wear fully ornamented red costumes. Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Colombia also have festivals featuring Moors and Christians reenactments (the Mexican term is morisma). Philippine Moro y Cristianos In the Philippines, the performing art is officially called Moro y Cristianos Street Drama by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the cultural agency of the government. On July 5, 1637, Jesuit priest F. Hironimo Perez finished the first Moro y Cristianos play in the Philippines. The first drama was played in a church, and was presented to the governor-general for a victory play against Muslims in the south. Afterwards, the play became known in the common tongue as moro-moro, which is the common name of the street drama today. The street drama itself, however, did not draw from actual Christian-Muslim conflict in the Philippines. The main precursor of its popularity in the Philippines was the indigenous awit and corrido traditions in Philippine native cultures. When performing, the representations for the Christians are in blue, while the representations for