Virgen de la Paloma Fiesta, Madrid

The Virgen de la Paloma Fiesta, Madrid is celebrated at the Plaza de las Vistillas in Old Madrid. The jubilation of Paloma Fiesta had begun in the 18th century and is still widely celebrated across the Plaza de las Vistillas. It is renowned as the city's best-known and greatest event or festival.

The Virgen de la Paloma Fiesta follows immediately after the San Cayetano and San Lorenzo Fiestas. The festival originally begins on the 11th of August and reaches its climax on the 15th of August every year. The 15th August is considered a Spanish national holiday in Madrid. On this day the firemen of the city council parades through the streets of Madrid carrying with them a statue of the Virgin of Doves. People can participate in this majestic celebration free of cost and feel the beauty of the same. Street parties, open-air dances, processions and popular celebrations overwhelm the streets of Old Madrid during the first half of August because of these series of Fiestas.

It is amazing to see the decoration of the streets with colored lamps. Color seems to be in the air with all Madrileños dressed up in their traditional Chulapo costumes for the auspicious social function. Women deck up in their Mantón de Manila shawls. The crowd dances their traditional dance known as the chotis in the open-air.

A Madrilenian named Isabel Tintero had found the linen cloth that symbolises the picture of the Virgin of the Dove in the 18th century. He made the picture apparent in his own house in the beginning. Later the devotion of the people became the cause of a new temple that was built in 1912. Since the 18th century this festival has become a part of the lives of people of Madrilenians.