Summer Festivals: Santiago and Santa Ana


   Home  navigation tree Spanish Fiestas   Summer Festivals   Santiago and Santa Ana

James the Greater, son of Zebedee, was one of the Christ's favourite disciples. Tradition has it that upon the Lord's death, he sailed forth to preach the Gospel in Spain, the country of which he is now the patron saint. Santiago was the first Apostle to become a martyr, beheaded in Jerusalem in the year 44 AD. It is generally believed that the disciples who had followed him from Galicia took the body and sailed with it to the Galician town of Iria Flavia. In the 9th century the apostle's remains were transferred to Compostela which has since become one of the most important centres of Christian pilgrimage surpassed only by Jerusalem and Rome.

The 25th of July is thus celebrated in all Spanish villages and towns. In El Carpio de Tajo (Toledo) geese are pursued and then the youths and men on horse-back decapitate them with their bare hands; in A Cañiza (Pontevedra) there is a pilgrimage to El Cristo de Petán and in Padrón (La Coruña) one to Santiaguiño do Monte. In Pontevedra, the Apostle is made offerings of the first bunch of grapes and first ear of corn whilst Santiago de Compostela (La Coruña) is taken over by the solemn celebrations in the cathedral and Plaza del Obradoiro. In Valcarlos (Navarre) a group called the bolantes perform a unique dance, although in recent times it has become a festival for children, with the adults only taking part in the well-preserved custom of the Resurrection dances. On the eve of the feast day, Lleida witnesses the lanterns of St James ceremony, commemorating an ancient legend according to which Santiago, on stepping ashore on Spanish soil, stood on a thorn which had to be taken out by the light of a lantern held for him by an angel. Also on the 24th but in honour of Santa Cristina, the patron saint is celebrated in Lloret de Mar (Girona) with the traditional dance called the Morratxa.

Ann's barrenness ended after 40 years of marriage to Joachim when she gave birth to a daughter, Mary, who was destined to become the mother of the Saviour. Her feast is celebrated on 26th July with singing of ancient songs such as the traditional campanilla in Cervera del Río Alhama (Rioja), castellers in El Vendrell (Tarragona) and processions of giants in the Plaza de los Fueros in Tudela (Navarre).

The 29th is the feast of Santa Marta, virgin and sister of Mary Magdalene and Lazarus. In her honour, the town of Las Nieves (Pontevedra) stages a unique pilgrimage known as Santa Marta de Ribarteme. The procession is made up of several coffins, some of which are occupied by those people who, believing they were soon to die, had promised the Virgin that that is what they would do. Processions of a similar nature, except that the people who make such a promise walk at the side of their coffin, take place in the miraculous procession in Amil (Pontevedra) on the second Sunday in September and the procession of shrouds takes place in Puebla del Caramiñal (La Coruña) on the following Sunday.

La Virgen de las Nieves is worshipped in the Canary Islands more than anywhere else. Celebrations occur every five years in Santa Cruz de la Palma, the last ones having been in 1990, and are called The 5-year celebration of the Virgin's presence. These were first held in 1680. The image is brought out on a July Sunday and is returned to its shrine on 5th August. The minuet, the allegorical float of triumph and above all the dwarfs' dance are the most interesting of the worldly aspects of the celebrations.

In Agaete (Gran Canaria) the descent of the branch is a ceremony which by all accounts is linked to old guanche traditions of begging for rain, in which thousands of worshippers cross the city wearing branches on their heads, the procession ending on the seashore. A similar ceremony is held on 9th September in San Nicolás de Tolentino (Gran Canaria) culminating two days later in the Fiesta del Charco (festival of the pool) in which hundreds of men and women of the town hurl themselves, fully-clothed, into the lake. Originally this was done in a semi-naked state, but after a widespread excomunication in 1766, the custom was changed.

San Lorenzo, as is well-known, was slowly burnt to death on a spit, his martyrdom dating to 10th August in the year 258 AD. Huesca, where he was born, dedicates its celebration of this day to him, part of which includes the aurora rosary in the cathedral and procession with traditional dancers taking part.



Click on the picture to go to the selected URL
right_arrow Back to Spanish Fiestas
right_arrow Back Home