Feast of the Virgen de la Peña, the patron saint of Fuerteventura

The celebration of Virgen de la Peña, the patron saint of Fuerteventura, is an event held on September 19 and 20 in Vega de Rio Palmas, in the municipality of Betancuria.

The Romería de la Virgen de La Peña is a religious celebration that brings together numerous devotees from different parts of the island to pay homage to the Virgin.

Religious acts, recreational activities, singing, dancing, float parades, musical performances, and food tastings are all unmissable elements.

The feast of the Virgen de la Peña, the patron saint of Fuerteventura, is one of the most important traditional festivals on the entire island.

This pilgrimage, declared a Cultural Heritage Site in 2007, is a cultural symbol of Fuerteventura and a manifestation of the devotion and identity of its people.

Nuestra Señora de la Peña is the patron saint of Fuerteventura , and her white Gothic sculpture is located in the hermitage of the same name in Vega de Rio Palmas.

Legend has it that it was in the Las Peñitas Ravine where he appeared to San Diego, Fray Juan de San Torcaz and other shepherds.

 The sanctuary of the Virgen de la Peña

The sanctuary of the Virgen de la Pena is located within the Betancuria Rural Park , on the outskirts of the municipality of Vega de Río Palmas.

This picturesque village in Fuerteventura is a wild area with high geological and landscape value. 

The reddish mountain ranges, rising majestically at the foot of the river that flows through the fertile lands, look like a painter’s canvas.

The Virgen de la Peña is an alabaster sculpture just 21 centimetres high and its style belongs to the most beautiful and elegant French Gothic.

It dates back to the first decades of the 15th century and is one of the oldest sculptures in the Canary Islands with incalculable historical and artistic value.

It is placed in the central niche of the sanctuary’s altarpiece on a golden pedestal and framed by a silver sun and a golden crescent. 

The niche housing the image is decorated with moldings, a rock garden and surrounded by Latin inscriptions.

In the image, the patron saint of Fuerteventura has her eyes closed and tears in her left hand, as well as in the child’s head and arm.

In this regard, tradition explains that the Virgin closed her eyes so as not to see how a mad Moorish woman mutilated her son. 

Legend of the Virgin of La Peña

Popular traditions often prefer a legendary and miraculous version of the story of the patron saint of Fuerteventura.

The legend of the apparition of the Virgin of La Peña has as its protagonists two Franciscan friars, who were among the first to inhabit the convent.

Legend has it that San Diego asked some shepherds where Fray Juan de San Torcaz was , a Franciscan friar who liked to get lost on rocky and dangerous paths. 

The shepherds replied that they didn’t know, but that they remembered seeing some very striking flashes of light in the area of ​​the Palmas River ravine.

Both San Diego and the shepherds went to the ravine area and located the body of Fray Juan at the bottom of the water in ecstasy of prayer. 

When they took him out they noticed that his clothes were miraculously not wet and he was illuminated by a halo.

The friar said that he slipped and fell into the water and as he fell he entrusted himself to the virgin, who performed the miracle.

Fray Juan said that celestial music and rays of light came out of those rocks and the shepherds hit the rock until it shattered.

And from that place appeared the white figure of the Virgin with Child and from that moment on she was baptized Virgen de la Peña.

The Pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Peña

The pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Peña reveals popular devotion to cultural traditions, where on Friday the march on foot towards Vega del Río Palmas begins. 

To celebrate the patron saint of Fuerteventura , every year thousands of pilgrims from all over the island gather to reach the hermitage of the Virgen.

After sunset, one of the most impressive scenes takes place, where from afar you can see sinuous tongues of light rising up the mountain slopes. 

They are the lanterns (formerly torches) that illuminate the steps of pilgrims as they reach the sanctuary of the patron saint of the oldest island of Canaries.

The hermitage of Malpaso was built on the site where the monks found it, and for many years it housed the sculpture of the Virgen de la Peña.

The pilgrimage is one of the most important recreational-religious celebrations on the island, demonstrating the Majoreros’ strong connection to centuries-old tradition.

However, the Diga de las Peñitas – Eremo de Malpaso – Arco de Las Peñitas route remains one of the most beautiful excursions in Fuerteventura , which offers magical emotions.

Naturally, this day is not lacking in festivals, musical performances, “Lucha Canaria” fights and other cultural activities.

 Anyone who happens to be in Fuerteventura in September , which are also the months of the Canarian summer , cannot miss this extraordinary event, the most important on the island.