Inside Las Nieves Church
Today is the fiesta of the patron saint of La Palma, the Virgin of Las Nieves. It’s also a public holiday for the whole island.
Las Nieves is about 2 km inland from Santa Cruz de la Palma. When I went this morning, it was impossible to park within a mile of the fiesta. Sorry, I just turned around and went home. I expect it’s much like other years – lots of stalls selling food and drink and souvenirs, and a religious procession at some point in the day.
Meanwhile, El Paso has it’s once-every-three-years fiesta going on for most of the month. They have things going on all month, but the main event is the romería on Sunday 16th. This is a cross between a religious procession and a party, where they take the statue of the Virgin on the Pine from the hermitage of the same name, to the church in the town. Romerías are usually great fun, with people taking along instruments to sing folk songs on the way, and wagons handing out free food and drink – usually friend pork and wine.
