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Festival of os Fachós

O Castro de Caldelas, Terra de Caldelas, Ourense

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Festival of os Fachós

Activity · O Castro de Caldelas, Terra de Caldelas, Ourense

Every 19 January, the eve of Saint Sebastian, the residents of Castro Caldelas walk through the town at nightfall with lit straw torches — the fachóns — in a procession that sets out from the church of the Remedios and circles the castle in the darkness, preceded by a main torch accompanying the image of the saint. The procession ends at the church atrium, where the torches are burned on a bonfire to the sound of the bells. It ranks among the oldest and most striking traditions of winter fire worship in Galicia: the first written references date from 1763. Its origin is uncertain: it has been linked to Celtic sun rites later Christianised, to a rogation against an 18th-century cholera epidemic, or to the search for the saint's body on the night of his martyrdom.

Photo: Croios (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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