January 17 Holy blessings of pets in Mazarron and Puerto de Mazarron

Holy blessings of pets are held in both towns on January 17 and 18

All over Spain the Saint’s Day of San Anton Abad or San Antonio Abad (Anthony the Great in English) is celebrated every January with a series of apparently bizarre scenes in which parish priests are called upon to bless pet animals, from dogs and cats to goldfish, sheep and all kinds of odd companions.

This is because Anthony, whose feast day falls on January 17, is the patron saint of a startling variety of aspects of life including not only animals but also skin diseases, farmers, butchers, basket makers, brush-makers and gravediggers!

But chiefly he is regarded as the patron of animals, and holy blessings of pets are being held this year at 17.00 on Friday January 17 at the small chapel of San Isidro in Puerto de Mazarrón and then at midday (coinciding with the local market) at the church of La Purísima in Mazarrón.

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