The Romería of Nuestra Señora de Chilla

Classification:

Tourist Sight in Castilla y León

Dates:

Second Sunday of September

The Romería (pilgrimage) of Nuestra Señora de Chilla has been declared of touristic interest in Castilla y León, and is held on the second Sunday of September in the village of Candeleda in Ávila. The festival dates back to the middle ages, and is so called after the place Chilla where the hermitage of the Virgin Nuestra Señora stands.

On the day of the celebrations the villagers and more than 12,000 people who attend the event commemorate the apparition of the Virgen de Chilla to a young Shepherd around the year 1300. According to the legend the Shepherd Firnardo, from the village of Calera, gathered his flock and took them to the mountain one day, as he did every day, but one of his goats ate some poisonous grass by misfortune and died. The Virgin appeared and revived the goat, and now she always appears with the symbol of a goat.

The pilgrimage, which many people make on horseback, ends at midday with mass. All the parishioners gather in the area of the stone of the apparitions in an impressive oak wood which serves as an open-air eating place, as tradition states that the families of the village eat and spend the afternoon at the spot.
The main day of the festival is Sunday, but the celebrations go on until Tuesday, when in Candelada there are bull fights, bull runs with fire and pennings.