Festival of Near Death Experiences

You can almost guarantee that whatever idea for a festival you can come up with, one or more Spanish towns will already have thought of it!

The town of As Neves in Galicia honours Saint Martha, the sister of Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus  and she was one of the witnesses to that miracle and having fled Palestine performed miracles herself in France.

Celebrating those who have cheated death

The festival of Santa Marta de Ribarteme takes place on July 29 each year and is dedicated  to those fortunate enough to have managed to cheat death and is therefore generally known as the Festival of Near Death Experiences.

Following a mass of celebration of St Martha at the parish church of San José de Ribarteme, there is a procession which winds through the streets of the town, but as well as the traditional carrying of religious statues, there is a parade of open coffins as well.

Each coffin contains the live body of someone who has escaped death in the previous year and they are carried by relatives or friends in a solemn parade to the sound of church bells following a tradition which can be traced back to the early 1700s.

Children can walk

Children are not ignored although if any are considered eligible for the parade, they will walk alongside an empty coffin carrying a candle.

The procession ends up in the local cemetery, with those taking part singing “Virgin Santa Marta, star of the north, we bring you those who saw death”.

This sleepy little town in the province of Pontevedra which is close to the border with Portugal relies mainly on agriculture for its income but during the three days of July 28 to 30, it welcomes large numbers of tourists, fascinated by the concept of the parade.

As should be expected once the procession is finished, it’s time to party with cauldrons of octopus, a brass band, dancing, the odd beer or two, plenty of stories about living life to the full and when it gets dark, fireworks.