On the morning of Friday the 17th the neighbours of Mijas, mainly those of Osunillas, wake up to the sound of the horn produced when one of the Stewards of San Antón blows the conch shell from the hermitage. A sound that serves to announce the festivity in honour of the saint and whose celebration is one of the most deeply rooted in Mijas. “In the 18th century, some sailors who were about to be shipwrecked on the coast decided to build this chapel in honour of San Antón, to whom they entrusted themselves, and in 1981, the chapel was rebuilt because it had deteriorated over time and since then San Antón has been celebrated”, said the president of the Stewards, Toñi Barranquero, who explained that “although the story of the shipwreck is not closely related to the animals, they chose San Antón as the patron saint of the Osunillas area”.

Mass will be celebrated at 12:00 noon in the chapel built and afterwards the parish priest of Mijas, Hermán Marcel, will bless the animals for the first time. “It is true that this festivity is only celebrated on one day, but we live it with great joy, with many memories, because it is something that we have been living since we were very young”, said the president of the Stewards. 

As always, the stewards of San Antón will hand out ‘callos’ (tripe) to those attending and ‘wheel’ games will be played in the square.

One of the special features of this festival is to throw a ‘chinita’  at the saint to find a partner, but, beware, behind this deep-rooted custom, there is a false belief. “I don’t know why this confusion arose, but girls   who want to get married have been coming here to throw the ‘chinita’ at him”, explains Barranquero, who invites all the people from Mijas and the neighbouring municipalities to join in the celebration.

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