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Fiestas Patronales de El Viejo in El Viejo
El Viejo, near Chinandega, hosts one of Nicaragua's largest religious pilgrimages each early December, centered on the Virgin known locally as the Virgen del Hato or Virgen de la Candelaria, whose basilica draws devotees from across the country. The image travels through nearby towns before arriving in El Viejo roughly a week before December 6.
In the Pacific lowlands of Chinandega department, the town of El Viejo is home to one of Nicaragua's most significant sites of Marian devotion, a basilica whose December festivities draw pilgrims from across the country in numbers rivaled by few other religious observances outside the capital.