Filloa de Lestedo Festival, which is a Festival of Galician Tourist Interest, will be held tomorrow, Sunday, February 26th, for the fortieth time. And to commemorate this round figure, another Festival of Galician Tourist Interest, the “Xenerais do Ulla,” will participate in a special parade featuring forty Xenerais (generals) on horseback.
A parade that, in its sixth year, will start at 12 noon at Lestedo’s municipal sports hall and head towards the Vía da Prata restaurant, where, at 12.10 pm, it will join the official party and, from 12.25 onwards, continue on together through the streets of Lestedo on their way to the fairground, where a tribute will be paid this year to Galicia’s four oldest “filloa” festivals. After this event, at 2.20 pm there will be a traditional performance by the Xenerais (generals) in the fairground.
Festival programme
The “Filloa” Cultural Association’s filloeira (“filloa”-making) machine will be switched on at 10 am. With a capacity for making 800 “filloas” per year, it will be working all day. This year there will be a tasting of different types of “filloa” once again: filled, savoury, sweet… and a new feature: gluten-free “filloas” based on the recipes made yesterday evening by Chef José Manuel Mallón, in which he replaced wheat flour with other types of flour: corn, rice, chickpea, chestnut, and buckwheat.
At 11am, the “Mestre Manual Gacio” Cultural Association’s music groups will get Lestedo’s 40th “Filloa” Festival off to a start, followed by carnival fun at 11.30 am. After the aforementioned 6th Parade of the “Xenerais” of the Ulla, at 1 pm the actress María Mera will deliver the opening speech of the festival.
The event will feature the participation of the Regional Minister for Infrastructures and Mobility, Ethel Vázquez; the mayor of Boqueixón, Manuel Fernández Munín; the Galician Government’s territorial delegate in the province of A Coruña, Gonzalo Trenor; the regional member of parliament Ovido Rodeiro Tato; the provincial councillor Antonio Leira; the director-general of the President of the Xunta de Galicia’s Technical Office, Emilio José de la Iglesia; the president of the “Filloa” Cultural Association, José Manuel Canabal; and representatives of “filloa” associations and entities from A Baña, Muimenta, and Valongo, as well as the mayoress of Sada, María Nogareda.
Aprons of Honour
After the official talks, at 1.30 pm the festival’s opening speech will be delivered by the prestigious Michelin-star chef Manuel Costiña, who will then be awarded one of the Filloa de Lestedo Festival’s Aprons of Honour. Aprons will also be awarded to Emilio José de la Iglesia and representatives of the entities in charge of organising Galicia’s most singular “filloa” festivals. At 2 pm there will an event to pay tribute to the Xenerais (generals, both male and female) of the Ulla, at which José Canabal Peón will be named “Xeneral da Filloa 2030” (General of the “Filloa” 2030).
The music of Luz o Ilicinio and Grupo Ibiza will bring the day to an end, while numerous visitors enjoy another new feature this year: the “filloa” stew. At 6 pm, the París de Noia and Coleguitas orchestras will round off Lestedo’s 40th “Filloa” Festival.
