The Association of Veïns of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell has recovered old photos, on this occasion, of First Communion and has opened a show with the Councilor for Culture, Jorge Pascual, and several neighbors whose photographs of first communion are part of the exhibition .
The president of the collective, the historian, Pura Bolufer, has compiled the images that date from 1877 to 1949 and has exhibited them in the Municipal Market, being the oldest belonging to the girl Ana María Llobell Buigues.
Bolufer indicates that "the exhibition has stopped in that year, but we have many more photos of later that we will already exhibit". Among the protagonists of the show is Emilia Pascual Pastor, from 96 years, who posed next to the portrait they made in 1929. For many of these neighbors, that photograph was the first one they took in their lives. Many of them are signed by Marsal, Dénia, then the great portraitist of the Marina Alta.
Emilia recalled that the children could not eat anything from the previous night until they took the sacrament. His mother was afraid of giving him a faint and gave him chocolate, "But I felt bad and I got sick. I could not receive that day and then I also passed the scarlet fever. I did not receive communion until a month later.".
Testimonials
Among the first communion photos are those of the current pastor Guillermo Gilabert (he took it in 1948), that of Juan Gilabert Devesa (he took communion in 1947) or that of Joaquín Pastor (he took communion in 1945). The latter remembered that that day of 63 years ago he arrived more than an hour before the church, "I lived a kilometer away and I didn't want to be late for anything. I was very nervous."
The exhibition reviews the evolution of this Catholic rite. Surprising photographs of girls and boys dressed in black to take communion. They were mourning the recent death of a relative. The Councilor for Culture has highlighted the great work of recovering the collective memory carried out by the Association of Veïns, "these exhibitions make memory and people".
