This Sunday, May 8, will celebrate the traditional pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgen de la Sierra, patron saint of Biel. This procession, which until recently had held the second Monday in May, was transferred correctly to the second Sunday so they can go all born in Biel and descendants, for various reasons, currently reside outside their village. So many people who come from Zaragoza, France, Ejea and elsewhere, together with the inhabitants of nearby towns: Fuencalderas, Santa Eulalia, the Frago, Luna, Luesia ....
In recent years, due to the influx of the faithful, the Mass will be at 12 hours, is held outdoors on a stone altar. Once completed, in earlier times was distributed among the participants previously blessed bread slices, "the bread of the Virgin", which has now been replaced by the delicious "cakes of May" that are eaten accompanied by sweet wine made in Barrow.
Biel is far from the chapel about seven kilometers and is situated on top of a hill (hence her title). In addition to a broad church, has other units such as a typical kitchen and a large lounge, where they meet members of the Brotherhood and which take place subsequent to the wedding banquet, communion or baptism, which, especially in summer, are held there.
Thanks to the work of the Confraternity of the Virgin which oversees the preservation and improvement of the chapel, its surroundings are conditioned to receive the hundreds of people gather on that day and there is ample parking and strategically distributed to households Picnics can be made the day of the pilgrimage. Because then the mass, people are spreading in family groups in the vicinity of the shrine to eat, and an end to a beautiful day in nature.
Those who attend the pilgrimage this year will find two important developments. The first is that the path from the road to the Hermitage, about two miles, is well paved, work conducted at the end of last year by the County at a cost of close to 90 thousand euros. The second is the restoration of the altarpiece of the chapel, an eighteenth-century neoclassical altarpiece, of considerable size (760X520), which had a very poor condition due to the intense attack from termites and wood decay. The company that has been restored Antique, under the supervision of the Restoration Service the Provincial and the budget has been close to 35 thousand euros, of which more than half the Guild has provided the Virgen de la Sierra and the rest was done by the County and to a lesser average, City Council of Biel.
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