This year's "Javieradas", which took place on the 6th and 12th of March under the name "Javier, adoration and devotion", witnessed the selfless collaboration of thousands of volunteers. Thanks to the help of these people, they were able to take place without any problems.

These festivals, which are so popular in Navarre, are without a doubt the greatest demonstration of religiousness in Navarre, a land where tradition and religious fervour have such an important role.

The Javier Castle, 8 kilometres from Sangüesa, marks the end of the traditional festival that every year gathers thousands of people in the two middle Sundays of March. The castle, whose origins date back to the 11th Century, is the place where San Francisco de Javier, the Patron Saint of Navarre and the missions, was born on the 7th April, 1506. It seems that the origins of this festival date back to 1885, the year in which Valencia was stricken by an outbreak of cholera. This frightened the people of Navarre, and they agreed to carry out a massive pilgrimage to the birthplace of their Patron Saint. According to the chronicles of the time, more than twenty thousand people from Navarre flocked to the spontaneous festival. The original festival took place along the tortuous route from Sangüesa to Javier. Because the arrival of the illness hardly affected any of the population, they held another festival, this time to give thanks for its charitable effect.

Today the "Javierada" has been a totally consecrated tradition with 6 types of pilgrimages: the masculine, the feminine, the ecclesiastical, the university, the school and one for the sick, which is held on the day of the Pentecoste, and all of these are very popular.