Legend of the Holy Cross

Legend has it that, many years ago, some peasants found a box with wooden splinters in the shape of a cross in Mahoya while they were collecting water from the main irrigation channel of the river Chícamo. Surprised, they took it to the Church of Abanilla for safekeeping.

However, the cross disappeared and reappeared in the same place where it was found. Interpreting this phenomenon as a miracle, the locals decided to build a small hermitage there, thus beginning the devotion to the current patron.