The Malaga municipality of Torremolinos will celebrate next Sunday, September 25, the traditional pilgrimage of San Miguel, this year, with novelties.
Thus, at 09:15 a.m. in the Hermitage of San Miguel, the blessing of pilgrims will take place and the patron saint will leave for Los Manantiales avenue, where at 10:00 a.m. the pilgrimage mass will be celebrated in honor of San Miguel Arcángel at the height of the roundabout. This mass is recovered after several years without being celebrated and is organized by the Brotherhood of San Miguel Arcángel and will be sung by the Rociero San Miguel Choir.
From 09:30 am the participants will be able to concentrate on the avenue at the height of the Los Palacios Urbanization. At 10:30 a.m. the procession of the Pilgrimage will leave, which this year has 38 carts pulled by tractors and 21 pulled by oxen.
Specifically, it will start from Los Manantiales avenue and go through Plaza Costa del Sol, Palma de Mallorca avenue, Joan Miró avenue, Rafael Quintana Rosado street, Carretera de Benalmádena, crossing Pozuelo towards the pine forests and arriving at Pinar de los springs. As a novelty, this year, the esplanade of the Hermitage of San Miguel will host the musical performances of ‘Callejón’, ‘Carlos Bravo’ and ‘Ecos del Rocío’ starting at 4:30 p.m.
As every year, the ‘Pilgrimage of San Miguel Carts and Tractors Contest’ will be held. The participating carts will be eligible for the prize for the best decorated tractor and cart and for the prize for the most cheerful and decorated tractor and cart. The prizes will be awarded on Thursday, September 29 at the Príncipe de Asturias Municipal Auditorium at 10:45 p.m.
The pilgrimage of San Miguel is considered a Festival of National Tourist Interest and is one of the most traditional urban pilgrimages in Andalusia.
The Torremolinos pilgrimage will have a wide security device that includes Local Police, Firefighters and Civil Protection. The Local Police will mount a service related to the concentration of the participants, tours of the planned itinerary and the pine forests, as well as mass concentration points such as the Plaza Federico García Lorca and the Real de la Feria.
The total number of officials who will reinforce the service on the day of the Pilgrimage will be 44 in a first shift, 49 in a second shift and 38 as extraordinary service, the City Council has indicated in a statement.
For its part, Civil Protection will have 12 volunteers who will carry first aid kits. There will also be 2 semi-automatic defibrillators in the procession, as well as in the two ambulances equipped for the whole day. The new vehicles acquired by the local police also have defibrillators. In this way, the areas where the pilgrimage passes will be cardioprotected. In addition, throughout the route there will be three Civil Protection intervention vehicles.
The Fire Department will collaborate with the blockade of traffic as a security measure in the tourist roundabout towards springs. Later, a forestry truck with two firefighters will be available at the command post that will be located near the hermitage. The functions will be preventive control against any threat or any fire outbreak that may occur.