The pilgrimage to Santa Faz

Today was the annual pilgrimage to Santa Faz, a small village within Alicante city.  It always takes place on the second Thursday after Maundy Thursday, the Thursday of saints week, and is said to participate some 260,000 people.

According to legend, the Clarisas nuns at the monastery keep guard of a religious relic that is supposed to be a part of the cloth that Veronica used to wipe the face of Jesus when he was on his way to the crucifixion site of Jerusalem.  The sacred cloth is taken out of the monastery once a year to preside over a mass that takes place outside the temple, in the square at Santa Faz.
 

Pilgrims on the route to Santa Faz - image courtesy of El Mundo

The pilgrims start at 8am at the CoCathedral of San Nicholás in the centre of Alicante and walk the roughly 8km to the Santa Faz monastery along the roads which are closed off to traffic for the event, accompanying the religious procession.  In the town hall square people can pick up (if they get up early enough) one of the 15,000 canes which they attach a sprig of rosemary to the top.  Also traditional is wearing a tunic and neck scarf.  Once at Santa Faz a Mass takes place, then people who want to see the relic queue to get inside the monastery.
 

The Mass at Santa Faz - image courtesy of Diario Informacion

After visiting the church, people hang around to have a bite to eat at one of the many stalls that are set up for the day or to browse the small market of artisan products from the area.  Some really prepared families bring a picnic and find a spot around the grassy areas of Santa Faz and make a day of it as it is an official holiday in Alicante.

Alternative ideas

If you don't fancy/can't walk the 8km there is a special bus service that leaves and comes back to central Alicante every 5 minutes.
Also, if you like walking part of it but not the religious part of it, you can fill up your trolley with food and drinks (usually the alcoholic type, as the Alicantinos like to party), join the pilgrimage to the end of the Avenida de Denia and then take a right towards San Juan beach.  When the weather happens to be good on the day of Santa Faz, there can be up to 15,000 people on this part of the beach, it's been estimated, usually the younger generation though.


Have you ever been on a pilgrimage?