Arafo Yesterday he lived one of his greatest and most anticipated days. Saint Augustine of the Mothers went down again in pilgrimage from the Añavingo ravine to the heart of the Villa, a meeting that brought out the feelings of emotion among the participants and whose celebration, with an extraordinary character, was finally possible after being postponed in 2021 due to the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the Festival Commission of San Agustín, the Aguas de Añavingo Community, the Parish and the City Council unanimously agreed to celebrate the extraordinary Bajada, which is held every four years.
The festive atmosphere returned to the streets, squares, private companies and homes of the Villa de Arafo, where the traditional food stalls and the festival returned. And, in this context, the Bajada de San Agustín de las Madres from the Añavingo ravine was the most anticipated act and the one that aroused the most expectation. A tradition that dates back to the 18th century, when Juan Hernández Santiago asked to take the image of Saint Augustine to the Añavingo ravine in the hope that the saint would intercede in the recovery of the water spring, after the landslide that left him buried five years earlier. . And the miracle was wrought, which caused the future of Arafo, doomed to disappear for not having how to survive, to change radically and add to its many qualities that of being a grateful and responsible, open and generous people. Thus, every four years, it was programmed to venerate the saint who made possible the resurgence of the town.
In the pilgrimage, which brought together numerous participants, that gratitude to San Agustín was re-enacted, but also the way of being of a town with many values, as its mayor, Juan Ramón Martín, present yesterday at the events, often repeats.
The Extraordinary Descent started at 5:00 p.m. from the San Agustín Grotto, in the Añavingo ravine. The mass, when night began to fall, was another of the outstanding moments, where the displays of devotion to the saint were reproduced, who will remain in the Church of San Juan Degollado until next September 4.
