Exhibition of Giants and Bigheads

The giants and big heads, a symbol in the Segorbina festivals.

The giants and big heads are a popular tradition celebrated in many local festivals. In Segorbe these great figures make a prelude to the most important festivals in the city. These figures parade at the end of August when the patron saint festivities begin and during the city’s Corpus Christi celebration.

The tradition consists of parading the figures and making them dance in the main squares of the town, the big heads chasing the people who come to the celebration, normally the children who wait for them with nervousness and curiosity.

The giants are figures several meters high carried by a single person, who makes the giant spin and dance to the tune of songs from the city’s music band.

The figures are made of cardboard, with a wooden frame that is covered with extensive clothing. The “giants” are of disproportionate height, creating an effect of nobility, figures that usually represent popular archetypes or historical figures of local relevance. While in the “cabezudos”, of lower height, the proportion of the head stands out, giving a more comic or mythological effect.

In Segorbe, there have been three generations of colossi, until now known, they have always represented the races of the world: the African, the Asian and the European (Caucasian), composed of three couples, and these, in turn, formed by a figure male and another female, figures popularly known in our city as:

African race: The Moor and the Moorish woman
Asian race: Chinese and Chinese
European Race (Caucasian): The King and Queen

First generation

The first generation of Giants of which we have evidence dates back to before the Spanish Civil War; it cannot be dated exactly, since there is a lack of written archives that attest to data about this generation.

Just as we do not know substantial data about its origin, we also do not know data about its disappearance. But we can adopt the idea that this generation of Giants would be destroyed during the civil war that caused so much havoc in our region in July 1938, since numerous bombings devastated buildings in our town. We can think that the figures would not have a better fate.
Even with the supposed brevity of their existence, they marked a tradition that, as we will see, would continue to be respected and admired by future generations of Segorbinos and Segorbinas.

Second generation.
In 1941, a group of Segorbino artists expressed the idea that had been on their mind for a long time: Recover the tradition of the Giants.
This group of artisans would surely remember with nostalgia the enormous figures that before the Civil War paraded through the streets of Segorbe and carried out the events in which they participated. For this reason, the determined artists Ricardo and Francisco Martín, Jacinto Garcés and José Lino undertook the construction of the enormous effigies with humble materials: fabric, cardboard and wood, and using their expert and tireless hands. They gave shape to the cardboard, and during the Corpus Christi festival of 1941, the new figures were presented, to the astonishment and admiration of the citizens, their first parade taking place on such an important date of the Christian Liturgical Calendar. Festival in which traditionally, throughout Spain, the Giants and Bigheads accompany the Sacred Form carried by the Lord Bishop in Procession.

For almost six decades, these colossi performed different events during the Segorbe Festival (parades on Corpus Christi weekend, the inauguration of the Tombola, they were present on stage at a presentation by the Queen of the Festival), and participated in events events and meetings from all over Spain.

This generation of Giants lasted until the year 2000. The year in which the City Council decided to remove these figures, due to their advanced state of deterioration. It should be noted that the materials with which they were built are quite sensitive to the vagaries of the passing of the years (travel, transportation, repairs…).

Restoration of ancient giants and big heads.

The old Giants and Cabezudos of Segorbe were restored in the summer of 2016 by a group of three people: Pilar I. Devesa, Amparo Garnes, and Asunción Gómez Jesús Zafón, José Luis Garnes and Sebastián Garnes, who completely repaired their heads , which were deteriorated. To this end, various Segorbina associations voluntarily gave up their premises for the work, which lasted approximately two months.

You can see these specimens in the streets of Segorbe on the designated dates or in the exhibition of the city’s ancient Giants and Bigheads, located in the same building as the tourist office.

(Information provided by Sebastián Garnes and Jesús Zafón).

If you want to know more about the restoration of the second generation of giants and big heads follow the following link: Restoration of giants and big heads Segorbe.