The fishing boat decked out with it's flags carrying the statue

Or the parade of Our Lady Maria of the Sea

Friday 16th August
The festival in Cedeira has been to honour the Lady Maria of the Sea to whom the local church is dedicated. Today we heard bagpipes and drum music coming from the port area and looked over to see a procession moving along the promenade. Loads of little boats were also heading to where all the fishing boats were moored, so we jumped in the dinghy to see what was going on. The people in the procession were carrying along a statue which was then loaded onto the biggest fishing boat all decked out in it's flags.

The fishing boat then headed out of the harbour, towards the ria entrance, all the little boats following along.


The fishing boat and it's attendants

We tried to keep up for a while but our 4hp just couldn't keep up. We turned around to head back in, but then so did the fishing boat and all it's followers, seems they were just doing a circuit of the ria. All the smaller boats then lined up next to each other and the fishing boat and our lady saluted and blessed them all by motoring past them with the ship's fog horn blowing continuously.


Blessing the boats of Cedeira

We headed for the dinghy pontoon and rushed around to the fishing dock to wait for the arrival of the fishing boat. The statue was then carried off the boat to a round of applause before the band started up again and she was paraded back into town.


The parade back to town

Most of the band were women, including those playing the bagpipes which were smaller than Scottish bagpipes with a softer sound.


The band members in traditional dress