What to Know About the Romería de San Lázaro Festival, Spain

The main Romería de San Lázaro Festival takes place in the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, but there are a few other smaller festivals that take place in other towns nearby such as Pontecesures and Lugo. Other cities in Spain also hold their own romerías (religious pilgrimage festivals), celebrating other saints, at different times of the year.

The dates of the Romería de San Lázaro vary each year, depending on when Easter is, but it is generally held between mid-March and the beginning of April. This year, it will be held from March 16 – 19, 2018.

The ‘romería’ of San Lázaro is a neighbourhood, which is located entrance of the city, along the Camino de Santiago – the long pilgrimage walk across the top of Spain. It is both a religious and gastronomic festival, also being referred to as the Festa Gastronómica da Uña, which literally translates as the ‘Gastronomic Festival of the Nails’.

The Saint of San Lázaro is honoured during the festival with a Mass and a procession and pilgrimage through the neighbourhood. The other part of the festival is the gastronomic part, where according to ancient tradition, pig’s trotters are presented as an offering to the saint. Everyone then prepares a special dish based on pig’s trotters to eat during the celebrations. The trotters are boiled along with cabbage, potatoes and chorizo, before being served, sprinkled with paprika and drizzled with olive oil. Many of the local restaurants will be serving this dish on these dates, so look out for it on the menus. The even culminates in live music and an open-air dance.