Spain Rethinks Burning Effigies Of Muhammad

MADRID, Spain — Spanish villages are abandoning the centuries-old tradition of burning effigies of the Prophet Muhammad for fear of offending Muslims.

The annual festivals, across Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands, feature locals donning medieval costumes to re-enact battles between "Moors and Christians" during the Reconquista period.

The fiestas celebrate events in 1492, when the Catholic kings of northern Spain defeated and expelled Islamic forces, ending more than 800 years of Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula.

Traditionally the festivities have culminated with the burning of mannequins of the Mahoma, a figure based on the Prophet Muhammad, to represent the final defeat of Islam in the region.

But, according to reports, local authorities have toned down the rituals to preserve Islamic sensibilities and avoid a repeat of the furor that followed last year's publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.