The declaration, made official this Tuesday, comes after intensive documentation and advocacy efforts. The Director of Territorial Services of Culture in Terres de l’Ebre, Manel Zaera, highlighted the work of the General Directorate of Popular Culture in making this recognition possible, adding to the sixty existing Festivals of National Interest in Catalonia.
With its entry into force, the festival, which boasts over a century of tradition, will automatically be declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of National Interest. In Terres de l’Ebre, this is the fourth such declaration, joining Sant Antoni d’Ascó and the Ebro River Festival itself in Ribera d'Ebre, along with the Quinquennals Festivals of Alcanar and Ulldecona in Montsià.
The mayor of Móra d'Ebre, Rubén Biarnés, congratulated the festival representatives for their persistence and thanked the Popular Culture Councilor, Jordi Fornós, for his perseverance. Biarnés expressed pride in representing the town on a day that culminates a claim initiated by previous administrations.
The application for the declaration began almost 11 years ago. Although the festival was cataloged in 2018, the processing had seen little progress. Fornós thanked the 'daliners' for being ambassadors of the festival and the entities that have accompanied them, celebrating the final boost to the file thanks to the predisposition of the technicians from the General Directorate of Popular Culture.
