Third Sunday in April

Virgen del Sol, Adamuz, Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain

Some time before 1630, when the Bishop approved the rules of the Confraternity of the Virgin of the Sun, a shepherd found her statue in a holm oak tree on a ranch around five miles from Adamuz. A chapel was built at the site to house the image, which was destroyed during the Civil War and since replaced. Every Easter, people carry the statue to the Church of San Andrés in town, to stay until August. On the third Sunday in April, Adamuz celebrates a fair in its patron's honor, and the statue goes in procession through the town. The Virgin's return to the chapel on the feast of the Assumption, August 15, occasions another procession and fiesta. The Virgin of the Sun is also honored on the feasts of Candelaria (February 2) and the Nativity of Mary (September 8).