Luna Celta (Solosancho, Ávila, Spain): Iron Age alive!

Historical re-enactments are a growing phenomenon across Europe. The Luna Celta (Celtic Moon) festival is one of the most prominent examples of Iron Age re-enactment events in Spain, where Iron Age constitutes a strong referent for contemporary regional identities. Every August since 2005, the impressive oppidum of Ulaca and the nearby villages of Villaviciosa and Solosancho in Ávila (Central Spain) become the scenario for a 3-day festival in which the pre-Roman vettones come alive through theatre, parades, music, feasts… and party. After studying 2016 and 2017 Luna Celta festivals through ethnographic fieldwork in the context of the REFIT project (Resituating Europe's First Towns), we will reflect on historical re-enactments as social contexts where the public engage with cultural landscapes and heritage, and build ‘bottom-up’ historical narratives about the Iron Age. Some of our colleagues assume that these festivals are a sort of quaint and poorly informed events in scientific terms. However, we will consider historical re-enactments as contemporary cultural representations. This way, re-enactment events have revealed being significant contexts for the study of the public perceptions about the past from a Public Archaeology perspective. In addition, we will evaluate the possibilities of historical re-enactments such as Luna Celta for the dissemination of archaeological narratives.

Author: Dr. González Álvarez, David - Durham University, UK; Institute of Heritage Sciencies (Incipit), Spain (Presenting author)

Co-Author: Mr. Rodríguez Hernández, Jesús - Complutense University of Madrid, Spain