St. James’ Day & Fogos do Apostolo

The annual Feast of Saint James takes places today in Santiago de Compostela and across Spain. It is also a public holiday in Galicia. Whenever you visit Santiago, you can be sure to see many pilgrims who have walked on the Camino de Santiago arrive into the city to join in the celebrations.

The two weeks leading up to “El Día de Santiago” (Santiago Day or St. James’ Day) are full of art exhibitions, drama productions, indoor and outdoor concerts of all kinds of music and street entertainment – both professional and amateur. Almost every night there will be something going on in the major squares, Plaza del Obradoiro and Plaza de la Quintana. On the evening of 24th July, in the Plaza del Obradoiro, are the Fuegos del Apóstol (or Fogos do Apostol in Galician) –  that sees the side of the cathedral illuminated at midnight by fireworks.

The feast day itself includes many official celebrations the most important of which is an official mass which is attended by representatives of the Galician government and often by members of the Spanish Royal family.

Unfortunately, I did not watch the fireworks display on TV Galicia last night but I watched it in the last few hours. It is pretty impressive. You can watch it here.