On Sunday morning, starting at five o'clock, the traditional rosary of the Aurora de Sant Antoni will take place. This event, full of symbolism, gathers thousands of residents and visitors every year, highlighting its collective nature and deep roots in local identity.
The image of the Virgin of the Incarnation, popularly known as «la Moreneta», will be transferred from the parish of Santos Juanes to the maritime district of San Antonio. Carried on the shoulders of the Aurora bearers, it will process through the streets in a procession marked by silence, emotion, and the altars that residents and Fallas commissions set up along the route.
The culminating moment will arrive with the procession reaching the sea. There, coinciding with dawn, the patron saint will be paraded along the shore in a gesture symbolizing protection over sailors and fishermen, in a scene that merges tradition, faith, and landscape. The Aurora is one of the most representative acts of Cullera's patron saint festivities, a celebration declared an Intangible Cultural Asset.
In addition to the religious component, the previous night is experienced as a true popular vigil on San Antonio beach, where residents and visitors await the arrival of the Virgin amidst bonfires, gatherings, and coexistence, reinforcing the collective character of a tradition that has managed to stay alive generation after generation.
After the intensity of the Aurora, the weekend will culminate with another of the most significant moments of the festive calendar: the «pujà» (ascent) of the image of la Moreneta to the sanctuary of Cullera castle, which will bring the main festivities to a close. This act, which concludes the cycle initiated eight days earlier with the «baixà» (descent), consists of the return of the patron saint to her temple located next to the castle, high on the mountain.
The ascent symbolizes the farewell of the Virgin after her stay in the city and the renewal of the bond between the people and their patron saint, in a tradition documented for centuries within the celebrations in honor of the Mare de Déu del Castell. With the «pujà», Cullera bids farewell to its main festivities until next year, closing a week in which devotion, history, and citizen participation once again position the town as one of the festive benchmarks of the Valencian Community.




