The Fiestas del Cristo, one of the patron saints of the municipality of O Barco, are the most popular in the region and are celebrated around the 14th of September. The Descent of the Sil by canoe takes place there, a sporting event that has already celebrated its 50th anniversary.

For 5 days, El Barco is filled with music and celebration, in the most important event of the town hall. They are marked by the big day, the 14th of September, when the mass and procession in honour of Christ the Nazarene is celebrated.

But the festivities are full of parallel activities – with numerous musical performances, parades and big heads throughout the city – during a week in which the municipality dresses up. The Urban Mile is also very popular, a sporting event in the form of athletics, which is now in its 35th edition. Other events such as the Pregón or the traditional Madrugón are also very popular and attract a large number of people.

The most important event of the festivities is the International Descent of the Sil, a sporting event in the canoeing modality organised by the Town Hall of O Barco de Valdeorras, which has a long history that places this sporting event as one of the most traditional in Galicia and one of the oldest in all of Spain.

The Descent of the Sil – which is always held on the Saturday of the Fiestas del Cristo – has the start at 6:00 p.m. in Sobradelo and the finish at the Paseo do Malecón del Barco after rowing a distance of 7.5 km in which areas of intense rapids are combined with small stretches of calm water. More than a hundred professional paddlers of all ages take part in this route in competition as an official event, but the event also has a more recreational part in which non-professionals can take part in the river in a fun way. It is also typical to use the “River Train”, which can be taken for free at the O Barco station and which transports spectators to the departure in Sobradelo to return to O Barco, making stops to observe the canoe route and enlivened by musical bands.