Feast of Saint Sebastian

Saint Sebastian is the patron saint of Huelva. Devotion to him grew out of the townspeople's prayers against the epidemics that struck the city in past centuries: a bull of Pope Leo X from 1516 already mentions a chapel dedicated to the saint, and on 28 April 1738 he was officially proclaimed patron, with his feast on 20 January.

The image carried in procession is the work of Enrique Pérez Comendador, from 1941. Since 1978 the services and the procession have been organised by the Hermandad de los Estudiantes, based in the parish church of San Sebastián, together with the City Council, which programmes the concerts and the public tasting; the Association of Former Residents of the San Sebastián Quarter holds its own tribute events.

In 2026 the City Council cancelled the whole festival programme during the official mourning after the Adamuz rail accident, and some of those concerts were brought back for the Cinta festivities in September.

The procession leaves the parish church of San Sebastián and goes through the centre and the streets of the old quarter. The route announced for 2026 was: Porche de San Sebastián, Doctor Cantero Cuadrado, Mackay Macdonald, Plaza de los Litris, Jesús de la Pasión, Plaza de las Angustias, Callejón del Santo Entierro, San Andrés, Alonso Barba, Plaza de San Pedro, Jesús de la Pasión, Plaza de la Dinastía de los Litris, Mackay Macdonald, Cantero Cuadrado and back to the church. Concerts are held in Parque Alonso Sánchez and on avenida Pablo Rada, and the children's rides in plaza de la Soledad.

Balconies along the route are decorated with huge vegetables that compete in a popular contest, and palm hearts are sold in the street and eaten with the family. On Sunday, after the service presided over by the bishop and the procession, the City Council offers a free tasting of the typical dish, cuttlefish with broad beans (potatoes with cuttlefish were announced in 2026), followed by concerts.

On Saturday the bars of Pablo Rada set up their counters in the street with Huelva tapas and there is daytime music, and at night Parque Alonso Sánchez hosts free concerts. Huelva Tourism also mentions the «Migas del Tío Pepe», a tradition revived by the Hermandad de Emigrantes.