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La Romeria de San Sabastian
May 9th, 2010
La Romeria de San Sabastian video
La Romeria de Sabastian is an anual pilgrimage, and the first fiesta of the year in Conil. It falls on the closest Sunday to the 20th January (weather permitting. This year it was postponed twice). The whole of the area shuts down for this fantastic festival of fun, food and drink (MUCHO!)
First a sort history lesson…Who is San Sabastian:
Sebastian was a captain in the imperial Roman guard of Diocletian. When he openly professed to be a Christian, he was condemned to death, and the emperor ordered him to be shot by archers. They left him in the field for dead. Irene, a Christian, found Sebastian still alive and nursed him back to health. Soon after he recovered he went back to the emperor to denounce him for his cruelty to Christians. This time Diocletian had him beaten to death with clubs. His body was recovered from the sewers of Rome and buried by his fellow Christians. The name Sebastian stands for “the Sublime”, “the Venerated”.
Timetable of events
On the morning of the pilgrimage a mass is held at a local church. From here thousands of local people and visitors from all over the world escort a statue of the saint either on foot,horse back or tracktor for a 7 km trek through pine forests. Local people spend many weeks decorating their carriages, complete with music systems for people to sing and dance all the way to the pilgrimage chapel of Fatima. On route the drink of the day is “rebujito” which is a mixture of dry sherry, lemonade and ice. Although just about everything is drunk!!
The pilgrimage arrives at the chapel around 2.00PM were the are welcomed by a warm crowd of people in the main square. Meanwhile in the pine forest people are lighting barbeques and very elaborate picnics for a truly wonderful family occasion.
Around 6.00PM the staue is carried back to Conil (usually not in a straight line!)
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