On August 5th of each year, the village of Lanestosa , situated in the most western part of Bizkaia (in the district of Las Encartaciones), is home to the procession of the Virgen de las Nieves. Here, the streets of the small village dress up for the festival and are filled with scenes of flowery hoop dancing. Although its origin is unknown, some documents refer to it as being more than 500 years old.

This spectacular dancing is carried out by men dressed in white with their typical gerriko belts and red neck scarves, which according to tradition had to be given to them by their mothers or girlfriends. The dancers or dantzaris skilfully shake their hoops, without getting out of step and methodically moving forward and backwards, they produce a looping together of hoops, carefully decorated with strips of silky coloured paper.

In the morning, the dantzaris and the municipal entourage accompany the statue of the Virgin in a procession as far as the fronton court, and in the afternoon they go out again calling on each door, dancing and shouting “Viva” to the neighbours.

The dance is only performed by men of “nestosano” origin or birth, something which is quite complicated if we consider that Lanestosa barely has a population of 300, and always in an odd number.