Our Lady of Botoa

"Queen of the fields of Badajoz"

In the Bótoa dehesa, the "Queen of the fields of Badajoz" is a peasant Virgin who looks like a straw and holds a bouquet of spikes and a rosary; that same rosary is auctioned every year in her rosary.

Origin and history

The origin of the advocation is located in the 14th century, in the area formerly called Budua or Botoba. The brotherhood traditionally dates back to 1344 and the first Romry documented to 1567; stable devotion has been observed at least since the 16th century. The present hermitage was concluded between the end of the 18th century and the first third of the 19th century, following the destruction of the previous one in the War of Independence. His Romeria - international, with faithful from Spain and Portugal - is celebrated on the first Sunday of May.

Co-patron of Badajoz with the Virgin of Soledad, she is invoked as a protector of the field: she is prayed in droughts, plagues and lashes of the cattle. Its iconography is markedly peasant: it has a straw pamela with poppies, a bouquet of spikes and a rosary in its hand. In the Romeria, the bouquet of flowers and the rosary that carries the image are auctioned each year as an offering of the field, a feature that enclose this advocation with the prayer of the Rosary.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.