Virgin of the Robles

The Procession of the 100 Donors · Sorzano (La Rioja)

In Sorzano, every third Sunday of May, a hundred white maids with acebo bouquets accompany the Virgin of the Roble in one of the most unique romaneries of La Rioja, a legacy of an ancient medieval vote.

Origin and history

The Virgin of the Roble is to be seen in her hermitage, on the outskirts of Sorzano, the place of the Romeria and campaign mass on the third Sunday of May. The oldest documentation speaks of 1398, the year in which Sorzano's right to go in procession to the hermitage of Our Lady of the Hermedagna, in fulfilment of a vote, within the pasture agreements between several peoples. The current format of the party has been witnessed since 1836.

Its distinctive feature is the procession of the maidens: a hundred young people dressed in white, with acebo bouquets, accompany with dancing the image of the Virgin of the Hermedagna from the parish of San Martín to the hermitage of the Virgin of the Roble, where the mass is held in the open air. The rite, of pastoral origin and of concord on pastures, is popularly linked to the memory of an ancient "tribute of maidens," a reason of legendary character reinterpreted in the Marian key of purity.

Formal canonical patronage and canonical coronation: not recorded in the sources.