Unique religious event in Benalmádena recognised as an event of tourist importance

The meeting that every 16 July attracts thousands of curious onlookers to the vicinity of Capitanía on the coast of Benalmádena to see first hand how the Virgen del Carmen and 'La Chiquita' say goodbye until next year has been declared a festival of tourist singularity by the provincial authority (Diputación de Málaga).

This distinction, which is awarded to those festive manifestations with strong popular roots and a singular value in the tourist and cultural field, will allow the Benalmadena festivity to access tourist promotion campaigns organised by the provincial council, as well as to form part of institutional events framed within the strategy of promoting provincial tourism.

"The meeting between the Virgen del Carmen and La Chiquita is not only an expression of faith, but also a sign of identity and cultural roots that unites the town with the sea. It is, without a doubt, a moving celebration that can now be projected even beyond our borders," said the mayor, Juan Antonio Lara, who thanked the association of the faithful of Virgen del Carmen and the Benalmádena divers association "for their work to enhance all the events that take place around this celebration".

La Chiquita is a small Virgen del Carmen who lives practically all year round at a depth of nine metres in a cave in Laja Bermeja, on the seabed of Benalmádena marina. She is often visited by divers, who make a pilgrimage along a route which has access to this cave.

It was the members of the Virgen de los Buzos cultural association of Benalmádena who, in 2005, came up with the idea of having their own Virgen del Carmen to ask for protection. First they had a marble image, but then a person linked to the association offered to finance a new bronze image. They found what they were looking for in an antique shop in Murcia and when the image arrived in Benalmádena, the general opinion was that it was very "chiquita" (small) and the name Chiquita stuck.

La Chiquita is placed inside a diving bottle, which serves as an urn and is vacuum-sealed with 20-millimetre-thick glass. This means that despite the fact that it has been on the seabed for years, the image itself is undamaged.

Every year, on the Sunday before the celebration of the Virgen del Carmen, the divers enter the cave, take the Virgin out and transfer her to land. She only spends a few days here, between Capitanía and the parish church of the Virgen del Carmen. On the 16 July, she returns to her cave. Before submerging, the encounter with the titular image takes place in the sea.