The pelotas of Pozo Estrecho Cartagena

Fiestas of San Fulgencio in Cartagena

Cartagena is a vast municipality, with dozens of different districts and barrios, each with its own local traditions and churches dedicated to a specific saint, around which local fiestas are celebrated.

In Pozo Estrecho the patron saint is San Fulgencio and the fiestas held around his feast day on 16th January.

Although a number of other activities take place around this day, with fun and games for the children and musical entertainment, the best-known act of these local fiestas is the day of the pelotas on which thousands of “pelotas” or meatballs, are dished out to attendees.

Pelotas Galileas, or pelotas en caldo, is a traditional dish of the Murcia countryside, with the "caldo" (meaning "stock") being a a strongly flavoured chicken or turkey clear stock. It’s a time-consuming dish to prepare as the stock alone is simmered for several hours to produce a concentrated broth, into which the pelotas, made from minced meatballs and each housewive’s own special combination of ingredients, are dropped to slowly simmer.

The ladies say that it takes around 10 hours to really make this dish well, roasting the bones, simmering them for hours with a few vegetables, mixing in saffron, shredded fine chicken and then adding the meatballs, flavoured with herbs and garlic, served with a big hunk of oven fired bread and a spirit of generosity.

At lunchtime, local housewives line up their trestle tables and serve the caldo con pelotas to all attendees, thousands of meatballs serving many hundreds of people.

It’s a hugely popular event locally, and is usually attended by municipal authorities as well as families from around the area.

Although the pelotas are given freely to all, it’s customary to support the summer fiestas by purchasing a dessert or raffle ticket for the grand prize draw.