Official Guide - Free Tour Oil, Spikenard and Salt: Charity

August 15 is one of the big days in Sanlúcar , the day of its patron saint, the Virgin of Charity .

 Although it is a national holiday due to the Assumption of the Virgin, the day of our patron saint is celebrated here by decorating the city for her procession. To do this, in addition to dressing the balconies, the paving of the streets is also dressed with colorful salt carpets .

 For this reason, this Thursday 15th we are going to take a special route through the historic centre dedicated to the feast of the Virgin of Charity, where we will discover how this small image arrived in the town in 1608 in the hands of a soldier. Due to a miracle, it remained (or rather “was kept”) in Sanlúcar, and for which the Duke built a church and named it patron not only of our town but of all his ducal territory.

 A tour that will begin at 11am in the Plaza del Cabildo , next to the origin of this devotion that dates back more than four centuries. We will pass through the two sections of salt carpet, both in the Barrio Bajo and the Barrio Alto , and we will go to the minor Basilica where the Virgen de la Caridad is located.

 (The first two photographs, those corresponding to the salt carpet, are by José Herrera)