San Agustín de Las Madres will once again descend on a pilgrimage from the Añavingo ravine to the heart of The Villa of Arafo, in a meeting with feelings on the surface, after the restrictions of the global pandemic. The Festival Commission of San Agustín, the Aguas de Añavingo Community, the Parish and the City Council met recently to unanimously agree on the celebration of an Extraordinary Descent to be held on next August 6.
After two years of restrictions, the Patron Saint Festivities will return to the streets, squares, private companies and homes in Villa de Arafo. However, one of the most followed events is La Bajada de San Agustín de las Madres from the Añavingo ravine. It played last year – it is done every four years – and since then its organizers announced that it would be done this year once the restrictions due to the health crisis were overcome.
In the 18th century, Juan Hernández Santiago asked to take the image of San Agustín to the Añavingo ravine with 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 making the future of Arafo, doomed to disappear for not having a way to survive, changed radically and added to its many qualities that of being a grateful and responsible people, open and jovial, worried about moving forward, respectful, generous …and so every four years it was programmed to venerate the Saint who made possible the resurgence of a town.
“The Pilgrimage is first of all thanks, thanks to San Agustín, for what we are today, but it is also a town, it exemplifies what we are,” said Mayor Juan Ramón Martín. “Our way of being and idiosyncrasy is faithfully reflected that day in a popular demonstration in a very special place for us, because Arafo has many values, and in La Bajada de San Agustín he shows them,” added Martín Pérez proudly.
The Extraordinary Descent will take place on August 6, starting at 5:00 p.m., from the San Agustín Grotto in the Añavingo ravine and will remain in the Church of San Juan Degollado until September 4. As is customary, the traditional food stalls will be installed, where the commission will toast the attendees with wine and sardines and a Campaign Mass will be celebrated in Los Lavaderos, to end with an end-of-festivities verbena in the Plaza de San Juan.
