San Roque
- Title Tineo
- Address Locality: Tinéu
- Days Days: 16 August
- Type Type: Festivity of Tourist Interest of the Principality of Asturias
Info
These are the most important festivities in Tineo and are held in the Campo de San Roque and in the town, in the middle of August. The main days of the festivities are 15th August (Día del Bollo) and 16th August (Día Grande de San Roque), but the festivities begin a few days earlier, with the Día de las Peñas, and end on 18th August (Fin de Fiestas).
The origins of the San Roque festivities go back to the time when the chapel was founded in the Campo de San Roque in the 14th century and the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela paid homage to the saint on his feast day.
In the 19th century, on 16 August, people with livestock, especially sheep and goats, would gather around the chapel to sell or buy and, around them, local people would sell boiled potatoes, hazelnuts, spelt bread and other local produce.
Today, the tradition of eating in the fields continues, and the appearance of the "peñas" (in the last decade of the 20th century) has considerably increased this tradition. The barrels of cider and wine are now a common sight in the countryside next to the baskets full of typical tinetense food: ham, pork loin, chosco and all kinds of sausages and meat products. It is and will be the great moment of family togetherness and one of the main events of the festival.
The Tineo Bowling Championship, which is still held in the bowling alley of the Campo de San Roque, and the Parade of Floats, which takes place on 18th August, is still fundamental, and has been a tradition since the 20th century, together with the election of the Queen of the fiestas.
These fiestas are the annual meeting point for families and the return of absent Tinetenses.