The clock struck half past nine in the evening. The tolling of the bells signalled the start of the transfer of the perpetual mayoress of Mijas. The faithful, full of nerves and emotion, waited, together with hundreds of neighbours, for the Virgin de la Peña to begin her journey to the parish church of the Immaculate Conception.

The patron saint of the town was carried on shoulder, as tradition dictates, by the Local Police of Mijas and was venerated by numerous Mijeños and visitors who did not want to miss this long awaited event. The Mijas brotherhoods, together with the Mijas Music Band and the Las Lagunas Musical Group, accompanied the Virgin on her journey. At the head of the procession were members of the municipal corporation, led by mayor, Josele González (PSOE). 

The procession took the image through the hermitage of El Compás amidst the fervour of the townspeople with a route that took the patron saint along Avenida Virgen de la Peña, arriving later at Avenida de México. Later, as she passed through Calle Málaga, silence descended among the neighbours who admired the perpetual mayoress of Mijas with devotion. At the Bodega del Pintor, a special hymn to the virgin moved all those present. 

"Long live the Virgen de la Peña, long live the pride of the people of Mijas!", were the cries of all the people along the route of the traditional transfer of the patron saint. The Folk Museum was also waiting attentively for the arrival of the Virgin. From the balconies of the Plaza de la Libertad it rained flower petals that bathed the patron saint in pink in an image that the Mijeños keep in a special place in their memory.

To the fervour of the people, the emotion of the Mijeños and the popular clamour, the procession continued through the Plaza de la Constitución. The policemen carried the patron saint of Mijas up the Cuesta de la Villa to the parish church of the Inmaculada Concepción, where, at the request of the parish priest Francisco Villasclaras, the people sang a salve to the Virgen de la Peña. The procession lasted nearly three hours and concluded with an emotional and multitudinous floral offering to the image. A photo album that remains engraved in the eyes of the people of Mijas and that can always be seen again on the Facebook page of Mijas Comunicación.

After leaving the Virgen de la Peña in the temple, everyone returned home to look forward to the eagerly awaited 8th of September, the big day of the village, when the Virgen de la Peña, patron saint of all Mijeños, will go out in procession as the protagonist of the Fairs and Festivals of Mijas 2023.

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