Javea has ordered every resident to take part in a costumed procession through the old town, after the council turned its postponed Bubota Fest into a compulsory civic ritual. The event, originally set for October 31 and moved to Saturday, November 7, will now run for three consecutive evenings, and attendance is recorded at the door of each plaza by officials with clipboards and matching black capes.
The council says the change was necessary because a single evening of spooky entertainment was judged insufficient for a town of its ambitions. Municipal workers have spent the past week hanging paper skeletons from every balcony on the Calle Mayor, and the traffic department has closed the seafront road to cars for the duration. Shopkeepers who opened after 6 p.m. without a costume were given a warning, then a second warning, and then a fog machine, which officials describe as the more persuasive instrument.
«Our residents have been generous with the spirit of the season,» said the councillor responsible for festivities, standing beside a cardboard coffin the size of a delivery van. «It would be ungrateful to let them keep it in their wardrobes. The procession will continue until everyone has been seen in a mask, and the lighthouse has been decorated to match.»
Local bakeries have been instructed to produce pumpkin bread in quantities that the town hall has not disclosed, and a special timetable now governs when children may knock on doors. The local police have formed a dedicated unit to escort the procession, dressed as witches, and its first drill was held on Tuesday in the marina car park, where a sergeant practised the wave.