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January 15 to 18 Fiestas in the Jumilla district of San Antón

Music and plenty to eat as well as the traditional blessing of pets and animals in Jumilla!

January 15 to 18 Fiestas in the Jumilla district of San Antón 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!

In the Jumilla district named after San Antón, though, there is even more going on as the local fiestas are held to coincide with the saint’s day, and the programme in 2026 includes the following:

Thursday January 15

19.00: Holy Mass in honour of San Antón at the Iglesia Mayor de Santiago, followed by the traditional San Antón rolls, which are provided by local bakeries.

21.00: Traditional bonfires are lit in the district of San Antón.

Friday January 16

21.00: Music and dancing as the fiestas queens and others are crowned!

22.00: Drag Show: Penny Rabbit in the marquee on Calle Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta.

Saturday January 17

Children’s games in the morning in the public park and DJ music in the marquee during the afternoon.

21.00: Traditional dinner of gachasmigas, grilled meat and “mortiriguelo” in the marquee.

23.30: Live music with Tocadiscos Coverband in the marquee.

Sunday January 18

10.00: Holy Mass in the Casa Misioneras de San José, followed by San Antón rolls and the blessing of pets and animals.

This is followed by a parade through the streets and a community meal.

17.30: Hot chocolate and rolls in the marquee.

19.30: Fireworks to mark the end of the fiestas.

For more local news, events and visiting information please contact the tourist office (telephone 968 780237, email oficinaturismo@jumilla.org) or go to the home page of Jumilla Today.

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Oficina de Turismo Jumilla

The tourist office in the centre of Jumilla is easily found by driving straight into the centre of the town along the Avenida de Murcia and following the signposts. The tourist office is alongside the Parque de Don Albano Martínez Molina, where there are a number of parking spaces.

Jumilla, in the north of the Region of Murcia, has become internationally famous over recent decades due to the quality of the wines produced in the municipality, and wine tourism has begun to attract visitors from other parts of Spain and the rest of Europe.

The tourist office is happy to provide a range of maps and leaflets showing the different bodegas which can be visited within the municipality. Some of these form part of the Rutas del Vino de Jumilla, the Jumilla wine route, and can either be visited as a guided tour or sell their produce directly to the public.(see feed below for more details)

However, the town and the surrounding countryside have plenty of other attractions for visitors, and the popularity of Jumilla wines is leading more and more people to discover other facets of the tenth largest municipality in Spain.

Jumilla Tourist Office

These include the spectacular countryside and birdlife in the Sierra del Carche, the historic remains which range from cave paintings and a Roman mausoleum to the castle, the Iglesia de Santiago, the Town Hall and the Teatro Vico, and the gastronomy: rich stews are accompanied not only by the wines of the area but also by Jumilla pears, which also enjoy Denomination of Origin status.

Tourism in Jumilla is not as seasonal as it is in the coastal areas of the Region of Murcia, but the town is at its liveliest during the fiestas in Holy Week and the August Fair, which incorporates the grape harvest celebrations and the Moors and Christians parades.

The Altiplano of the Region of Murcia, which consists of the municipalities of Jumilla and Yecla, is only just over an hour by car from the Mar Menor, Cartagena, Mazarrón, Torrevieja and Alicante, and anyone wishing to visit real inland Spain and world-class wineries is advised to include Jumilla in their schedule.