Coloured Damasks

Since time immemorial, the peoples of the Mediterranean basin — Italy, France, Greece, Spain — have marked their religious festivities with rituals clearly reminiscent of the Roman Empire: the consensual games, the Saturnalia. Myrtle, cypress branches, palms, native flowers, and coloured fabrics have become elements of a temporary architecture for the occasion, leaving the city adorned with a harmonious and entirely unforced beauty.

Paintings by Sorolla from the 19th century, and black-and-white photographs from around the same era, show these same decorative motifs appearing across distant Mediterranean cities — Seville and Palermo alike. The continuity is striking.

In Jávea, this tradition takes the form of old damask bedspreads made from natural silk thread — splendid brocades of plant figures that hang from balconies during processions, swaying gently in the air with their wooden tassels. Historically, these textiles formed part of a young woman's trousseau, assembled for her future household. They reflect the town's patrician heritage, stored carefully in wooden or cardboard boxes between festivities.

There is a hidden code governing their use: cool tones — blue, green, purple — indicate mourning and solemn occasions; burgundy, strawberry, and gold are for celebration. The fabric matters too: only true damask qualifies. These pieces are often inherited across generations, each one carrying the memory of the hands that folded and unfolded it, year after year.

Many homes in Jávea today lack inhabitants who know this tradition. Jessica Bataille The Lifestyle Company is committed to studying, cataloguing, and helping perpetuate this custom — proposing through institutional channels that these bedspreads be distributed to homes that have lost them, so that the streets of Xàbia may continue to carry their colour.