Picaos in San Vicente de la Sonsierra

During Easter Week, the Riojan town of San Vicente de la Sonsierra holds the “Picaos” procession, a religious tradition with ancestral origins.

It is the only display of penitence featuring flagellation, a common practice in many places until the 18th century. Despite the passing of time and prohibitions, this ritual has been kept alive in the town. Throughout the course, the disciplinantes or penitents, dressed in white robes, whip their own backs with esparto cords for twenty minutes.