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Tarraco Viva, Jornades Internacionals de Divulgació Històrica Romana

Població: Tarragona (Tarragonès)
Dates: 29-05-2009 / 31-05-2009
Època: Època Antiga
Pàgina web: http://www.tarracoviva.com

With only 9 editions the Tarraco Viva Festival is already a European prime example in the field of Roman history, with an incredible number of shows of equal or superior quality to those displayed at Xanten, Carnuntum or Archeon archaeology parks. It will be no lie to state that this festival equals the well known and advertised festivals of Edinburgh or Avignon.

 

The Tarraco Viva Festival is the only festival that avoids folkloric and popular activities and is exclusively devoted to historical re-enactment. Only true high level re-enactment groups from Catalonia and all over Europe take part in it. Also, workshops and demonstrations available to visitors have a superior demand than those usually found in other festivals or markets, where historical faithfulness is not a priority.

 

Accurate and academically rigorous, educationally orientated, enjoyable yet meaningful are the main defining traits of Tarraco Viva. To attend the Tarraco Viva Festival is to witness in first person life as it was 2.000 years ago. Visitors will experience true events the exact way they happened in a very accurate background, with highly rigorous imitation dresses, equipment, utensils and tools. All perfect replicas of original materials.

 

Here are a few examples of the huge effort some groups make in their strive to attain historical accuracy. The Roman toga worn by the senator in Legio VII Gemina group is 100% made of pure wool -the same way it was in ancient Rome-, a piece nowadays highly unlikely to be found. In the same group, legionaries' tents are each made out of 80 goat skins; Last, mail armours are each made with over than 3.000 hand-harnessed rings.

 

Summarizing the programme of Tarraco Viva in a few lines is a difficult task due to the abundant activities available. High level lectures by top world specialists take place along with demonstrations and shows depicting ancient Iberians, Celt Iberians, Greeks and Romans' daily lifestyles, including civil affairs, family dealings, religious ceremonials, commercial exchanges, military life, leisure entertainments or death rituals. Most of the performances and the educationally orientated workshops are held throughout the last weekend in May whilst activities addressed to professionals -seminars, talks, lectures, debates, etc, start some days before.

 

The participation of the best historical re-enactment groups in all Europe reveals the importance of this festival.

 

If assessed in terms of a tourist destination, the Tarraco Viva Festival would attain 3 stars in the Michelin Guide. In addition, attendance of Primary and secondary schools is highly advisable, since scholars usually have a distorted vision of history, closer to what they have seen in comics or contemporary cinema.

 

Historical accuracy, faithfulness to past events and professionalism are all found at Tarraco Viva and should be made extensive to other historical re-enactment events held in Catalonia. In this sense, the path opened by the History Museum of Tarragona -organiser of Tarraco Viva together with the Town Council-, should become an example to most medieval markets or other so called "historical" festivals, in which their festive nature prevails over respect towards history.

 

Parallel to the Tarraco Viva Festival a Conference of Roman Gastronomic Reconstruction takes place in the city organised by the Tarragona Town Council, the History Museum of Tarragona and an association of restaurants. During the Conference visitors have the chance "to savour" history -as they say-eating ancient Roman recipes. It is, therefore, an exceptional opportunity to make a journey into ancient flavours and to enjoy the origins of our cooking and culture.