Every October 28, many people from Matarón carry out an ancestral rite: they go to buy the saber, a piece of pastry in the shape of a sword that is sold in the hermitage of Sant Simó. The custom is associated with a popular festival that lasts the whole weekend and that has the presence of giants, castellers, children's entertainment and music and dances for everyone.
The Sant Simó Gathering is always held on October 28 and the following weekend, and is organized by the Ermita de Sant Simó Hermitage Cultural Recreation Committee with the collaboration of Mataró Town Council. Its roots among the people of Matarón are very important and in the past it was considered a major autumn festival of the city. With the arrival of the neighborhood festivals, the celebration - which continues to have a lot of popular participation - has transformed a little.
Simó, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, was invoked in Mataró by sailors to protect themselves from the attacks of pirates and corsairs who besieged the shores of the Maresme. In the 16th century, the town dedicated a hermitage to him that bears his name. Inside the chapel there is a reproduction of an ex-vow in the shape of a boat, called "Coca de Sant Simó" and which preserves its original in the Maritime Museum of Rotterdam.