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The Holy Vow of Puertollano

Puertollano, Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 3 Nature · 3 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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The Holy Vow of Puertollano

Activity · Puertollano, Campo de Calatrava, Ciudad Real

A tradition of Puertollano (Ciudad Real) dating back to the Black Death of 1348, when the epidemic reduced the city's population to thirteen families, about seventy-five people, who prayed through the night for the intercession of the Virgin Mary in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and were spared the contagion; in gratitude they promised a meal in her honour for the poor of the district, offering a cow for each surviving family. After a second outbreak of plague in 1486, their descendants renewed the vow and built the hermitage dedicated to the Virgin of Grace, patroness of the city ever since. The tradition continues every Thursday of the octave of the Ascension, today with the distribution of blessed bread among residents.

Jueves de la octava de la Ascensión

Photo: Emiliano García-Page Sánchez from Toledo, España (CC BY-SA 2.0)

What to see and do in Puertollano