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Lepe’s Events and Festivals |
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Lepe is a village enjoying many festivals plus a very important fair, the Agrocosta - one which attracts all of the Onubense (the ancient name of Huelva) agricultural sectors. Holy Week (Semana Santa) is a huge festival in Lepe.
La Romeria de la Virgen de la Bella
The Romeria (pilgrimage) in honour of the "Santísima Virgen de la Bella" (Most Sainted Virgin of Beauty), patron of Lepe, is the most popular holiday of the locality. It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May in the enclosure that exists for such an event next to the fishing port.
The festival begins on Saturday in the village of Lepe. During the late afternoon on the Sunday, the ofreda (offering) of flowers takes place in the Plaza de Espaňa accompanied by hundred of horsemen, chariots and those on foot, dressed in their typical faralaes costumes, parading before the image of Ntra. Señora de la Bella and placing thousands of posies of flowers, resulting in a mountain of petals of a hundred colours. This is followed by a night of song and dance.
Semana Santa
Throughout Holy Week, different processions commemorating the passion and death of Jesus Christ take place in Lepe every day. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, the day commemorating Jesús's triumphal entry into Jerusalem when children play their special role accompanying the images, carrying branches of olive tree or palm trees.
As in the rest of Andalusia, Holy Week passes in the practice of abstinence up to Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
The "Madrugá" (post-midnight early hours) of Holy Friday has regained its special significance with the almost-lost tradition of reading "Christ's judgment", in which Poncio Pilato (Pontius Pilate) condemned Jesus Christ to death, and its depiction by a locally-chosen artist.
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