page_title: Magdalena Festival
section_title: Pilgrimage of the canes
hierarchical_section_title: Magdalena Festival / The semana festera / Sunday: "Magdalena festa plena" / Pilgrimage of the canes
caption_attribution_description: Español: La ermita de la magdalena en castellon de la plana. Aqui acuden los romeros el primer domingo de la semana de fiestas
context_page_description: The Magdalena Festival is the main festivity of Castellón de la Plana, the capital city of the province of Castelló, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It commemorates the origins of the city, recalling the move of the city from the Hill of Mary Magdalene to the fertile coastal plain in 1251.
  This festival lasts for 9 days. It starts on the third Saturday of Lent and it was declared an Event of International Tourist Interest in 2010.
context_section_description: The day starts with the ringing of the "Vicent" bell at 5:30 am. As mentioned in the last part of the pregó (an announcement made by a town crier), the bell's chime means "Ja el día es arribat de la nostra Magdalena" ("The day of our Magdalena celebration has come").
  At 8:00 am, the pilgrimage starts from the Plaza Mayor (Castellón) (Main Square). Although its official starting point is the Plaza Mayor, most pilgrims start from Plaza María Agustina (María Agustina Square, which is a typical meeting place and through which the main route passes. From there, the pilgrimage goes through several streets of the north side of the city and it continues, along rural paths, until it reaches the Mary Magdalene chapel. Halfway there, one of the compulsory stops (according to tradition) is Sant Roc de Canet, where people have a mid-morning snack, for example the typical "figa i doset", and where pilgrims say a prayer.
  After this long walk, people arrive at the Mary Magdelene Chapel. A mascletá (a series of pyrotechnic explosions) is set off to announce the arrival of the pilgrims, who are handed "rotllos" (ring-shaped pretzels). Then, there is a service in the chapel, after which everyone tries a little of an enormous paella.
caption: Mary Magdalene Chapel
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:02:11 22:54:17", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9132", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "600"}