One of the oldest and most deeply rooted traditions in the city of Alicante is the pilgrimage to the Santa Faz. This pilgrimage, also known as “la Peregrina”, is more than five centuries old and gathers more than 260,000 pilgrims. It is celebrated on the second Thursday after Holy Thursday. The starting point is the Co-cathedral of San Nicolás de Bari and from there, dressed in the typical pilgrim costume: a black smock and a neckerchief with the colors of the city: white and blue, the pilgrims will walk the 8 kilometers to the monastery of Santa Faz, inside which is kept the cloth with which, according to popular tradition, Veronica dried the bloody face of Jesus on his way to Calvary and which was brought from the Vatican in the fifteenth century.
If you are an early bird, at 7 am in the morning at the Co-cathedral of San Nicolas, an hour before leaving, they hand out rosemary canes that serve as support for the long walk. During the pilgrimage you can not miss the “paraeta” to regain strength, along the way you will find several stalls where you can take the famous aniseed rolls and mistela.
See you in Santa Faz!
