Historical context
History and Legend
The Holy Grail’s three-century journey through the Aragonese Pyrenees and Bailo’s role as a Royal Seat.
950–1063
The Grail in Bailo
Tradition places the chalice of the Last Supper at the Royal Seat of Bailo for much of the 10th and 11th centuries, during the formation of the Kingdom of Aragón.
Regional sources give dates between 950 and 1063 for the Grail’s custody in Bailo, while some official district sources narrow the period to 1014–1035. There is no settled academic consensus on the exact year, and this page gives both references rather than fixing a single unverified date.
During that time, Bailo was not a peripheral village: it was an administrative and religious seat of the emerging kingdom, under monarchs such as Sancho III el Mayor. Queen Munia and Bishop Mancio II are the other two central figures in the tradition, alongside the infante Ramiro, future first king of Aragón.
Key historians
The account draws on the work of medievalists such as Antonio Durán Gudiol, Alberto Gómez García, Ana Isabel Lapeña and José Luis Corral, whose talks have accompanied several editions of the Re-enactment.
1959 – present
From remembrance to Re-enactment
The festival is linked to two moments in the 20th century when the Holy Chalice passed through Bailo again, and to the walk that has followed the route to San Juan de la Peña every year since then.
A night guarded by the village
On its way to the Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña, the Holy Chalice stopped overnight in Bailo. During that night, the villagers themselves were responsible for guarding it.
The Brotherhood retraces the route
Thirty-five years later, the Brotherhood of San Juan de la Peña organised a pilgrimage with the Holy Chalice to commemorate its stay in Bailo.
The walk to the monastery
In memory of that journey, ACURBA (Bailo Cultural and Recreational Association) organises an annual Hiking March from Bailo to the Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña, bringing together several hundred participants.
Why the Re-enactment exists
Following that walk, ACURBA wanted to explore more deeply the historical episode of the Holy Chalice’s stay at the Royal Seat of Bailo and give it its proper place in the history of Aragón. The Re-enactment grew from this, conceived as a continuation of the Hiking March: the staging of the moment when the Chalice is handed over for safekeeping in the Royal Chapel. It has been designated a Festival of Tourist Interest of Aragón since 2017.
The theatrical event
Re-enacting the handover of the Grail
The central moment of the festival stages the arrival of the royal procession in Bailo and the handover of the Holy Grail to the village’s ecclesiastical authorities, in the Plaza Mayor and the Royal Chapel.
Each edition has added characters to the procession. Alongside Sancho III, Munia, Mancio II and Ramiro, the 2025 edition introduced the ensign Daco Garcés, documented by historian Alberto Gómez, and the jester Ciresio.
Three centuries of travel
The Holy Grail’s route through Aragón
The chalice reached Huesca around the 3rd century, sent from Rome by Saint Lawrence. With the Muslim invasion of the 8th century, it was moved north, taking refuge successively in Yebra de Basa, San Pedro de Siresa and San Adrián de Sasabe before reaching Bailo.
From Bailo it went to Jaca and then to the Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña, where it remained for more than three hundred years. In the 14th century, King Martín I el Humano moved it to Zaragoza and Barcelona, and in 1424 Alfonso V el Magnánimo took it to Valencia, where it is now kept in the Chapel of the Holy Chalice in the cathedral.
This route - now promoted for tourism as the Holy Grail Route - links Bailo with around a dozen stops through the Pyrenees and the rest of Aragón as far as Valencia.