Our Lady of La Vega

Patrona de Haro · famous for his "Rosario de los Faroles"

In Haro, the capital of the Riojano wine, the Virgin of Vega is venerated as a patron from ancient times; her image carries a rosary, a grenade and a spikes, and in her holidays she walks the streets the "Rosario de los Faroles," declared of Regional Tourist Interest.

Origin and history

The present Baroque basilica, raised between 1703 and 1756, is raised on an earlier construction where the image of the Patron of Haro, described as a Gothic size, was already venerated. Next to the temple there is a Museum of the Virgin of Vega, and the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Vega declares its foundation in 1552, which shows a devotion established at least since the mid-16th century. The most widespread tradition is the "granadine legend": Christians who fled the vegas of Granada after the invasion of 711 would have brought the image, and the car that carried it was prodigiously stopped in the Vega of Haro, being interpreted as the will of the Virgin to stay there; a story of popular piety, not documented history.

The image carries several devotional attributes - rosary, pomegranate and spikes -; the spikes evoke a very dear prodigy in Haro, according to which the barley of a needy mother became wheat by invoking the Virgin, so the blessed spikes are preserved as a relief to the sick. His devotion is expressed in the offering of flowers and of the first must, the blessing of spikes and the presentation of children to the Virgin. The link with the Rosary is very visible: the image has a rosary and, during the holidays of September 8, the "Rosario de los Faroles," a declared procession of Regional Tourist Interest, runs through the streets.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.