The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Boat in Muxía hosted the presentation of the programme of activities for the “Pilgrimage of the Virgin of the Boat in “Virgen de la Barca de Muxía” Festival. This event has been declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest since 1989 and is supported by the Regional Government of Galicia.
The event was attended by the president of the Romería de la Barca de Muxía Cultural Association (organiser of the event), Ramón Pérez Barrientos; the mayor of Muxía, Francisco Javier Sar; the Councillor for Culture, Sandra Vilela; the parish priest of the Sanctuary of the Barca, Daniel Turnes; and the senior patron of Muxía, Daniel Castro. The main days of the celebration will be between 12 and 15 September, although the liturgical programme will begin on the 4th with the Novena de la Barca.
Ramón Pérez highlighted the leisure activities organised for this year, hoping that the “Pilgrimage of the “Virgen de la Barca de Muxía” Festival ‘will once again be a great success in terms of attendance’ and highlighted the work being done, in collaboration with the Regional Government of Galicia, to have the event declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest. The Muxián councillor echoed these sentiments, expressing his satisfaction with the extensive programme of religious and cultural events, which he hopes will ‘fill our town with visitors to enjoy these special days’.
Renowned orchestras
The president of the Romería de la Barca de Muxía Cultural Association explained the cultural programme for this year’s edition. ‘There will be no shortage of renowned orchestras and there will be a grand finale performance by Soraya, which will put the finishing touch to this year’s programme,’ he announced at this morning’s presentation.
The programme itself will begin on Friday 12 September with the firing of 21 palenque bombs at 12 noon, followed by a parade of giants and big-heads with bagpipe bands through the town. This start to the day will be repeated on the following days (on Saturday 13th at the same time, while on Sunday 14th and Monday 15th it will take place at 9 a.m.).
Musical performances will continue to take centre stage in the port area during the four days of festivities. On Friday 12th, the vermouth session will be provided by Disco Móvil CDC and the evening’s entertainment will feature a performance by ‘Kubo, which has the largest stage in Spain,’ said Pérez Barrientos, and the evening will end with Disco Móvil CDC.
On Saturday of the Barca, there will be a vermouth session enlivened by Alianza and, in the evening, a great performance by París de Noia, together with the previous orchestra. At 12:30 a.m., there will be a grand fireworks display from the pier.
The fireworks will continue on the big day of the “Romería de la Virgen de la Barca” Festival, Sunday 14th September, with the biggest fireworks display in Galicia at 2.30 pm, followed by a performance by the Virgen de la Barca Polyphonic Choir. There will be a macro vermouth session with Acordes y Galaxia, who will repeat their performance in the evening together with the Los Satélites orchestra.
The M-3 Show Orchestra will be in charge of entertaining the vermouth session on Monday 15th. The finishing touch to the celebration will be provided by the singer Soraya, starting at 11.30 pm on the Muxián pier.
Religious programme
For his part, Daniel Turnes was responsible for detailing the religious programme for these days. All information is available on the Sanctuary’s website (https://santuariodeabarca.org/). The parish priest indicated that during the Novena and all the festive days there will always be priests available for confession.
The liturgical events will begin on 4 September with the celebration of the Novena de la Barca, with Masses every day at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. At the evening Masses, a different priest will celebrate the Eucharist each day. During the Novena (until the 12th), there will be special events, including those on Saturday, 6 September, with the celebration with the children at 5:00 p.m. and the departure of the night-time Torchlight Procession at 8:30 p.m. from the Sanctuary of La Barca. On Sunday 7th there will be the traditional celebration with the elderly and sick, and on Tuesday 9th there will be a funeral for the deceased devotees of La Barca.
During the main days of the festival, on Saturday 13th there will be Masses at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. (sung), 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., which will also be repeated the following day. However, on La Barca Sunday, there will be an outdoor Mass at 1:00 p.m., featuring the Virgen de la Barca Polyphonic Choir, followed by the procession to the port and the traditional blessing.
On Monday of the Boat at 10:00 a.m., the procession will depart from the parish church to the sanctuary, where a solemn Mass will be held. The last of the services will take place at 7:00 p.m. with another Eucharist.
Daniel Turnes encouraged neighbours and visitors to participate in the religious events, while reminding them that, following the example set last year, ‘we will broadcast Masses and the Novena via streaming on the Sanctuary’s Facebook page’. In this way, we aim to bring the services at the Sanctuary of La Barca closer to anyone in the world.