San Timoteo Day in Spain

The feast of San Timoteo in Luarca is one of the most typical and that gathers more people around Asturias (not in vain is declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest).

The festivities of San Timoteo begin in Luarca/Ḷḷuarca on the night of August 21, with fireworks. On that night there is verbena, different atmospheres for the different tastes of the youngest or the oldest.

The following day, August 22, the pilgrimage of San Timoteo takes place. In the morning firecrackers are launched to wake up the people. The different peñas are equipped with food and everyone goes to the hermitage of San Timoteo.

The hermitage is in the so-called Campo de San Timoteo. The pilgrims go with groups of bagpipers, dressed in "chambrón", with cane and the T of bread around their necks.

Its origin is curious: in 1910 a group of friends decided to meet one summer day to share food, cider and songs (something very typical of the Asturians) in a field near the town of Luarca, the field of La Herrería.

The reason to celebrate it in honor of San Timoteo (who is nowadays the patron saint of the town) was no other than chance: the Zaragozan calendar marked August 22 as the day in honor of the saint who, paradoxically, was stoned to death for trying to prevent the festivities in honor of Emperor Domitian, which he considered a whirlwind of pleasure and corruption.

One of the most characteristic aspects of this festivity is the dress of the confreres. People gather in "peñas" (brotherhoods) and each one gives their distinctive touch to the popular uniform: the "chambrón".