Pontevedra's Festivals

Festivals or fiestas, both large and small, take place across Pontevedra. Most have a religious symbolism and many have evolved over hundreds of years and now have myths and tall tales associated with them.

The exact day upon which a festival falls may vary slightly each year depending on e.g. the occurrence of a saints day or Easter, but they do take place at generally consistent times year after year. Fiestas celebrating food tend to be on a specific day, perhaps the last Sunday of a month, whilst saints days and other religious days are tied down to a calendar date.

Pontevedra province's first fiesta of the year is in January and its last is in November, but if you want to visit, and enjoy the festival atmosphere, you need to hone in on July and especially August when the larger festivities take place.

A list of Pontevedra's Festivals

This list is perhaps not completely exhaustive, but it is fairly comprehensive. Each entry includes, the name of the fiesta, its location and date in brackets and some brief details about it. The details are only to give an indication of the festivals nature, e.g. religious, gastronomic etc. For simplicity Pontevedra's festivals are listed by calendar month (but randomly within each month). Major religious festivals like Easter and Corpus Christi are not mentioned separately.

January

San Sebastian de Aldan (Cangas, Jan 20th)
A small festival that includes a procession.

March

Fiesta of Arribada da Pinta (Baiona, The first Sunday of the month)
A festival with some costumes and a procession.

Romaria do Corpino (Lalin, 25th of the month)
A festival with some costumes and a procession.

April

Fiesta of Oysters (Soutomaior, The first 2 weeks of the month)
A gastronomic festival that celebrates oysters from "Arcade".

Festival of Lamprey (Arbo, Last Sunday of the month)
A gastronomic festival celebrating a crustacean and the recipies used to prepare it.

May

Fiesta dos Maios (Redondela, 1st of the month)
A spring festival.

Fiesta of Salmon (A Estrada, 3rd Sunday of the month)
A gastronomic festival.

Fiesta of Trout (Pontecaldelas, Last Sunday of the month)
A gastronomic festival.

Curro of Valga (Oia , 2nd Sunday of the month)
No idea what this one is about.

June

Curro de Mougas (Oia, 2nd Sunday of the month)
?

Romeria do Corpino (Lalin, 23rd of the month)
As 25th March.

Festival of Saint John (Pontevedra wide, 23rd and 24th of June)
Religious and folk law and happens at the turn of the shortest night.

Fiesta de Roscon de Yema (A Guarda , Last Saturday of the month)
Gastronomic and related to a kind of cake.

July

Certain major festivals are held across the entire province (and generally the whole of Galicia) in July and these are:

San Benito (Province wide, )
Saints day

Saint James day (Province wide, 25th July)
Saints day across Galicia. This festival is centered around the long standing battle between good and evil. Sometimes known as the "festival of the Devil", it involves music, traditional dress and games, a fair and a conclusion with fireworks.

Virgen del Carmen (Pontevedra wide, strictly the 16th of the month, but normally celebrated on the nearest Sunday.)
This fiesta has particular symbolism because it is connected with the ocean and fishing. In some locations boat processions are floated out to sea.

To see the rest of Pontevedra's fiesta itinery , select a link below
Festivals July (cont) - August
Festivals September - November

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