Some natural areas, whether by their hidden beauty, by their silence or by their depth that sink in the bowels of the earth, seem to emanate a strong attraction to humans. Of these places the caves have a special force. Not surprisingly the man dwelt in them during the long night of their childhood as a species.
It is not uncommon to locate underground caves or chasms in which there has been any religious practice from ancient times. There are caves in the Iberian Peninsula where archaeological votive remains are accumulated from the Iberian period, ceramic vessels offerings, and medieval remains.
Some of these caves even in modern times still lead regular meetings, usually annual, of many devotees and pilgrims to celebrate the "virgin" or deity of the place.
Many of them are sanctuaries where even today seeks the healing of a disease, elimination of pain or health generic search. This has been happening since the remote antiquity and this is true throughout the Mediterranean, from Spain to Greece, from Italy to North Africa.
Often with offerings in the form of cups or cup shaped, are votive offerings offered by the believer with foot shapes, hands, arms, legs, heads,…. referring to the painful whose health is implored. They are hanging on the walls or on the roof of the temples.
The term "votive offering" is originted from Latin "ex voto", made by a promise.
In the caves are logically venerated underground deities and to them are offered sacrifices, gifts, offerings.
Who can resist relate, for example, the veneration of the saint Saturius, in Soria (Spain), in a mythical cave beside the Douro River, the father Douro, with the worship of Saturn, Roman god of the deep terrestrial? Well still two thousand years later, there are hundreds, thousands of people who visit the cave of Saint Saturius , whose feast is celebrated every year on the first days of October.