Mancha Blanca is getting ready for one of the busiest days of the Fiestas de Los Dolores this Saturday 12 September. The Romería Popular, with music along the way, sets off at 4:30 pm from the Tinajo football pitch and will once again bring together pilgrims, carts, parrandas and folk groups from across Lanzarote and the rest of the archipelago. From early morning, however, many people from all over the island will already be making their way to Mancha Blanca.
This year's procession will feature several of the groups performing the night before at the Festival Nanino Díaz Cutillas. Among them will be the Grupo Folclórico Los Cebolleros from Gran Canaria, the Agrupación Folclórica La Oliva from Fuerteventura, the Agrupación Folclórica Aduares from La Palma and the Grupo Folclórico Sabinosa from El Hierro.
The romería will be followed by the Baile del Romero, for which attendees are invited to come in traditional Canarian dress. Music will come from La Polvajera and Pa’Lante, both from Gran Canaria, along with Tinasoria, Son del Norte and Pal Porrón. A big night of parrandas that will keep the celebration going in Mancha Blanca.
A romería with decades of history
For decades, the Romería de Los Dolores has been one of Lanzarote's great popular gatherings, drawing participants from every municipality on the island and from other parts of the Canary Islands. There is documentary evidence of it being held since at least the mid-20th century: the Memoria de Lanzarote archive holds specific references to the romerías of 1956 and 1969.
Its cultural origin is closely tied to Lanzarote's volcanic history. Devotion to the Virgen de Los Dolores, also known as the Virgen de los Volcanes, is linked to the Timanfaya eruptions that transformed the island between 1730 and 1736 and, later, to the eruptive episode of 1824. Over time, Mancha Blanca became the meeting point for pilgrims from all over Lanzarote, and the celebration took on the island-wide scale it still has today.
Malú headlines the programme of the Fiestas de Los Dolores 2026