Tradition and faith meet at the coast in Spain every July to celebrate the patron of sailors

ESTEPONA, Spain (AP) — Silence falls on the beach in the former fishing village of Estepona as the sun sets over Spain’s southern coast.

Barefoot men in white shirts carry a seven-foot statue of the Virgen del Carmen, or Our Lady of Mount Carmel, adorned with flowers, across the sand. Children climb on their parents’ shoulders, while others record on their phones, standing waist-deep in the sea. Offshore, boats filled with families and friends await the Virgin’s arrival.

As the statue reaches the shore, more than 90 men, many from fishing families, lift her onto traditional boats and she sets out to sea. Hundreds of vessels, from jet skis to paddleboards and fishing boats, join the procession chanting and singing, in their belief that the Virgin blesses the waters.

Every July 16, coastal communities across Spain honor the Virgin, saint of sailors and protector of those at sea, who was also named official patron of the Spanish Navy in 1901. It is one of the myriad Marian titles venerated by the Catholic faithful. In Estepona, once a humble fishing village on the Malaga coast, it’s the most anticipated day of the year.

“Some people won’t swim until the Virgin enters the water,” says Isabel Moreno, secretary of the Hermandad del Carmen in Estepona, the Catholic religious brotherhood that organizes the event. “Everyone wants to be close to her. She protects our fishermen, our neighbors, our visitors, all of us.”

It began in Estepona in 1962, when six sailors acquired the statue to bring this Catholic tradition closer to their town. Since then, it’s grown into a full-day celebration that starts with an outdoor Mass, sea-themed games, and — this year for the first time — a women’s boat race.

One popular contest called “cucaña” challenges young men to walk across a greased wooden beam suspended from a boat to grab a flag before falling into the water.

The statue leaves its chapel in the evening and is carried through the streets as residents throw flower petals, sing traditional songs known as coplas, and call her “estrella de los mares” — Spanish for star of the seas. She sails along the coast, then returns to land before being brought back to her chapel.

“This used to be a celebration only for sailors,” says Alfonso Ramírez, head of the brotherhood and son of one of its founders. “Now it belongs to everyone.”

In recent years, he says, organizers have worked to make the town feel included, regardless of fishing roots.

Estepona, like many Spanish coastal towns, has been transformed by tourism. In summer, its population doubles from 78,000 to nearly 160,000. Artisan fishing has declined, say captains at the maritime club, unable to compete with industrial fleets and increasingly threatened by invasive species like Asian seaweed, which has severely impacted the country’s marine biodiversity for years.

To make up for the loss of income from fishing, many boats that once caught anchovies now carry tourists instead.

But for one night, each year, Estepona returns to its roots, with faith and memory filling the streets and the seaside.

Past midnight, Ana Ruiz, 86, sits outside her home in one of Estepona’s oldest neighborhoods. She watches the procession return to the small chapel where the Virgin will rest until next year.

“We were all fisherfolk and had a humble life,” says Ruiz, whose late husband carried the Virgin for 33 years. “Now my neighbors are all foreigners. But we want them to love our Virgin too.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Members of the Carmen brotherhood prepare the icon of the Virgin of Carmen a day before a religious parade through the streets and along the shore of Estepona, southern Spain, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Catholic faithful return the statue of the Virgin of Carmen to the shore at the end of a religious procession in Estepona, Málaga, southern Spain, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Catholic faithful carry a statue of the Virgin of Carmen during a religious procession in Estepona, southern Spain, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Catholic faithful carry a statue of the Virgin of Carmen during a religious procession in Estepona, southern Spain, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Catholic faithful carry a statue of the Virgin of Carmen during a religious procession in Estepona, southern Spain, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)