The mayor of Boqueixón, Ovidio Rodeiro Tato, and the president of the Filloa Cultural Association, Juan Manuel Silva Hermida, have annnounced the programme for the 43rd edition of the Filloa de Lestedo Festival this morning at the CIFP Compostela, with the main event taking place on Sunday 22 February. They were accompanied at the event by the Regional Minister for Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training, Román Rodríguez González; the director of the Galician Tourism Agency, José Manuel Merelles Remy; the provincial deputy for Procurement, Heritage and Equipment, Xosé Luís Penas Corral; the director of the CIFP Compostela, Ramiro Esparís Sampedro; and actress and presenter María Mera.
The mayor of Boqueixón highlighted all the work carried out by the members of the Filloa Cultural Association, the Town Council staff, organisations and sponsoring companies in putting together this year’s programme. He also made a special mention of José Manuel Canabal ‘for all his years of work as president of the Filloa Cultural Association, which culminated in the festival being recognised as a Festival of National Tourist Interest’.
In this regard, Ovidio Rodeiro highlighted Boqueixón as “a municipality with numerous cultural, gastronomic and scenic attractions. With Pico Sacro as a reference point at all levels: geological, speleological, religious and even astronomical, now that the topic of eclipses is so topical. But, in addition, Boqueixón has three festivals of Tourist Interest in Galicia: the Sergude Carnival, the Carrozas del San Cidre and the Fiesta de la Filloa, also of National Interest. Few municipalities in Galicia, or even in Spain, can boast anything similar.”
For his part, Juan Manuel Silva also joined in thanking José Manuel Canabal, who after many years at the helm of the Filloa Cultural Association decided to step aside. Regarding the Big Day of the Filloa, on Sunday 22 February, Silva Hermida hopes ‘that the weather will be much better than it has been these days and that we will be able to enjoy this forty-third edition’. He highlighted that the ninth edition of the Great Intermunicipal Parade of the Ulla Generals will feature the participation of fifty generals and xeneralas from A Estrada, Santiago, Silleda, Teo, Touro, Vedra, Vila de Cruces and Boqueixón. “The filloa machines will start working at 8 a.m. and between the two of them they will make an average of 2,000 filloas per hour. Alongside them will be filloeiras and filloeiros preparing all kinds of creations: stone-baked and filled filloas, both sweet and salty.
Román Rodríguez began his speech by highlighting the work of CIFP Compostela as the source of ‘the best chefs of recent years’. Regarding the Filloa de Lestedo Festival, Román Rodríguez pointed out that ‘what began as a festival has now become a heritage asset that creates neighbourhood spirit, conviviality, pride… It is very important that people identify with the product, and it is also important to consider the economic impact that this type of event has on the municipality’.
The director of the Galician Tourism Agency, José Manuel Merelles, pointed out that the Filloa de Lestedo “is at the top of the list of festivals, because we have more than 150 festivals of Tourist Interest in Galicia, but only fourteen are of National Tourist Interest. The truth is that it is a recognition of the Cultural Association of the Filloa, the Town Council of Boqueixón and the residents of Lestedo, because without collective work this festival would not have reached where it has reached.”
Finally, Xosé Luís Penas apologised for the absence of the provincial vice-president, Xosé Regueira, and stressed that ‘Boqueixón is doing a good job of promoting one of our traditional products, the filloa’. He described the festival as ‘cultural heritage of the province because a festival that has been running for 43 years is much more than a neighbourhood festival; it is about family, tourism and Carnival, and institutions must protect festivals like this.’
Parallel programme
The festival’s promotional programme will begin on Friday 13 February with the first of five showcookings scheduled this year at Filloa Cooking, all of which will take place at the Lestedo social club, free of charge and with a limit of 40 places each. This is a tasting pairing of filloas with Ribeira de la Ulla wines from the Rías Baixas D.O., led by sommelier Nacho Costoya and chef Roberto Filgueira at 8:00 p.m.
The second session will feature Cocido de Lalín (Lalín stew) and will be led by Lalín chef Álex Iglesias, from the Cabanas restaurant, who will prepare recipes using leftovers from the stew with Lestedo filloa. It will take place on Sunday 15th February at 12.30 pm.
The following day, Monday 15th February at 7 pm, Kike Piñeiro, chef at La huerta del Obradoiro, will be in charge of another edition of ‘Lestedo sin gluten’ (Gluten-free Lestedo), in which 30 people from the Galician Coeliac Association (ACEGA) and 10 people from the general public will participate. This show cooking event is being held again due to the great interest generated by the two previous editions.
Wednesday, 18 February will be the day for the little ones with a new edition of the Filloeira School, in which chef Xosé Manuel Mallón and filloeiras from Lestedo will teach local children about the culinary values of this product. New this year is the addition of two sessions: one for children aged 4 to 8 (from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.) and another for children aged 9 to 16 (from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.).
Finally, on Thursday 19th February, there will be a new session of ‘Filloa Accesible’ (Accessible Filloa), an initiative that aims to bring this dessert to all audiences. This time, the invited group is people associated with ONCE. The class will be taught by chef Xosé Manuel Mallón at 12:00 p.m. and will consist of a sensory tasting of Lestedo filloas with wines from the D.O. Rías Baixas-Ribeira del Ulla.
Filloíña Festival
On Saturday, 14 February, the fourth edition of the Filloíña Festival will take place, starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Lestedo fairgrounds with performances by the groups Os Campiños de Sarandón, As Travesas de Codeso, Pena Maior de Marrozos, and the groups Alborecer, Lucerniñas, and Solleirada, from the Maestro Manuel Gacio Cultural Association. At 6:00 p.m., there will be a children’s proclamation by the students of the Antonio Presupuesta Couto Primary School. Fifteen minutes later, the Atranques de Xeneraliños de la Ulla will arrive, ending with a children’s costume contest. And, starting at 8:30 p.m., there will be a big concert by Uxía Golosa and Banda Molona.
The next day, Sunday, 15 February, at 12 noon, there will be another new feature: the Filloa Fair, with tastings of sweet and savoury Filloas de Lestedo, with and without filling. Musical entertainment at the festival will be provided by the groups Estralampo, Pirilampo and Solleirada, from the Mestre Manuel Gacio Cultural Association. And on Saturday 21 February, the fourth edition of ‘Filloa Folk’ will take place, with a programme yet to be finalised.
Piñata Sunday
On Sunday, 22 February, the 43rd Filloa de Lestedo Festival will open its doors at 8:00 am, with the switching on of the two filloeiras machines. Starting at 11:00 am, musical groups from the Mestre Manuel Gacio Cultural Association will perform at the festival grounds: Luz del Ilicinio, Raeira, Raiola, Ardora, Larada and Luceiro.
At 12:00 noon, the IX Grand Intermunicipal Parade of the Generals of La Ulla will take place along Avenida del 26 to the festival grounds. At 1:00 p.m., Emilio José de la Iglesia Lema, a resident of Lestedo and general director of the technical office of the Presidency of the Xunta de Galicia, will give the opening speech. The event will be presented by actress María Mera and will also include the presentation of the 2026 Aprons of Honour.
At 1:45 pm, it will be time for the Grand Halt of the Generals of La Ulla, who, through rhyming verses and with a great deal of irony and humour, will talk about politics and current affairs. From 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., there will be a vermouth session and afternoon entertainment by the Ibiza Group and Charanga BB+. At 2:30 p.m., there will be a Cocido de la Filloa (a traditional dish) in the Lestedo pavilion and finally, from 6:30 p.m., a large popular festival with the Origen Group and the París de Noia orchestra.
