
|
Fiesta de San Vicente de Ferrer
|
When:
|
31 Mar 2008 (annual)
|
|
Where:
|
Valencia
|
| Costs: |
Free
|
| Opening Hours: |
All day
|
A week after Easter, the people of the Autonomous Region of Valencia pay homage to their patron saint, with the Fiesta de San Vicente de Ferrer. In the centre of Valencia itself, children perform plays depicting his miracles.
San Vicente was born in Valencia in 1350 and died in Vannes in 1419. He was a theologian and preacher, and also an important political figure. Eventually he became a missionary, travelling around Europe, preaching several times a day to crowds of 10,000, working miracles, frequently fasting and sleeping on the floor.
On the saint's feast day, it is customary to visit his old home, now converted into a chapel. Here children drink from the Pouet de Sant Vicent in order that they "begin to speak at an early age, do not suffer from tonsilitis, do not commit perjury and should never be blasphemous".
|