The Santa Faz pilgrimage, in pictures

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In this edition of La Vanguardia's Readers' Photos PhotoFlash, I'm sharing a photo report on the latest edition of the Santa Faz pilgrimage in Alicante , which brought together nearly 350,000 participants. It attracts nearly 300,000 pilgrims annually, but this year's 2025 event was the most crowded in history.

The Catholic pilgrimage of Santa Faz, also known as La Peregrina, is celebrated on the second Thursday after Holy Thursday and is the second largest in Spain after El Rocío in the province of Huelva.

The starting point is the Co-Cathedral of San Nicolás de Bari and the route covers eight kilometers until reaching the Monastery of the Holy Face, where the relic of the Holy Face of Alicante is venerated. This is the canvas on which the image of Christ's "face" is captured, as it was collected by Veronica and venerated in the monastery.

It is traditional for those attending the pilgrimage to wear the typical pilgrim's attire: a black blouse and a scarf around their neck in the city's colors of white and blue. They also carry reeds of rosemary. The festival dates back more than five centuries, and the Stations of the Cross is prayed throughout the pilgrimage. A copy of the canvas accompanies the official procession, while the original is displayed upon arrival in Luis Foglietti Square.

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