Mare de Déu de la Candela

Patrona de Valls (Tarragona)

In Valls, the Mare de Déu de la Candela is the patron who is linked to the feast of the Candelaria; every ten years, the Festes Decennals make the city a great tribute to its Virgin.

Origin and history

Devotion is documented in Valls at least since 1348, when there are pleas addressed to the Deu Mare during the plague. The solemn feast was institutionalized in 1791, setting the great celebration on February 2 of each finished decade in one: are the Decennals Festes of the Candela, who maintain their continuity as the great feast Vallense linked to the Virgin.

The feast of February 2 coincides with the Candelaria and is celebrated with solemn mass, blessing of the candelas and procession around the church of Sant Joan. The devotion is expressed above all in the Decennals, with ninth, procession and elements of popular culture such as Moixiganga. It is a patron - and, in some sources, a co-patron - of the city.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.