The Pilgrims of Les Useres. The 13 thirteen quiet pilgrims of Les Useres

The town of Les Useres in the province of Castellón is home to one of the most ancient pilgrimages in the Region of Valencia: Els Pelegrins de les Useres.

this pilgrimage dates back to some time between the 14th and 15th century, and originated as an annual thanksgiving by the whole of the town in gratitude for its salvation from the epidemics it used to suffer. Ever since, on the last Friday of April each year, 13 pilgrims and a guide have set out on behalf of the town to travel the mountain paths that lead from Les Useres to the sanctuary at Sant Joan de Penyagolosa, where they will spend the night before returning home the following day.

The pilgrims make the journey barefoot and dressed in a rough bluish tunic, a leather belt and a drop-brimmed hat. Pilgrims are selected in rigorous order of houses, following the streets of the town, and they are accompanied along the way by a priest, the guide, the Stations of the Cross, the prayer-reciter and the singers. The pilgrims tread the path in absolute silence proceeded by mule-drawn carts or càrregues, which carry the frugal provisions that will be consumed over the course of the day. The pilgrimage covers a distance of some 35 kilometres.

Ayuntamiento de Les Useres: Tel. 964 38 86 09

Historia de la peregrinación

More Information:
TOURIST INFO CASTELLÓN
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From Les Useres to San Juan de Penyagolosa, thirteen quiet pilgrims
On the last Friday of April, for almost seven centuries, thirteen quiet men go from Les Useres to San Juan de Penyagolosa to request rain and peace for their town. They are the Pilgrims of Les Useres.

Silence that they are arriving.
The tradition of The Pelegrins (The pilgrims) goes back to the XIV century, in the middle of the Middle Age, when it was celebrated for the first time to request health, peace and rain from the sky - da nobis salutem et pacem, et pluviam de caeli- to relieve these territories of the plague, wars and the drought.
Faithful to this tradition, the twelve pilgrims and the pilgrim guide start walking after a basic breakfast. The carregues, the depositario, the cook and the water carrier march ahead. They are followed by the promises, the three singers carrying a cross and two candelabra, the priest who carries a relic of San Juan Baptist, the clavarios and the municipal representative. The group walks in silence across the areas of Lucena, Xodos and Vistabella through stone and bushes footpaths that make difficult a route that is more than 35 kilometres long.

During the pilgrimage they invoke the saint of each village and hermitage. This way, in Les Useres they invoke San Juan Baptist, San Miguel Arcángel at the San Miquel hermitage in Torroselles, in Llucena, San Pedro Apostle in Xodos and near the Sanctuary of San Juan de Penyagolosa they invoke San Juan Baptist again.
The pilgrims celebrate a mass, rest and eat at the hermitage of Sant Miquel of Torroselles. At night, after having rested near Xodos, they arrive at San Joan de Penyagolosa. There, they take their shoes off, they go inside the hermitage and they celebrate a procession with the image of San Juan Baptist.
Later, the pilgrims rest in a humble room called the Cova dels Pelegrins (Cave of the Pilgrims), they have supper and at night, next to the people that go with them, they sing Completas (the final prayer of the day). The way back begins at one in the afternoon and they arrive at Useres at night. Each pilgrim carries a light and they go from the hermitage of Loreto to the parochial temple, where the romería (procession) finishes.

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