Rocío Pilgrimage
Andalucia is famous for its pilgrimages or ‘romerías’. The pilgrims traditionally walked to Rome, therefore becoming known as ‘romeros’ and many towns celebrate their Romaria to a local shrine a few miles away.
It is a day in the countryside visiting a chapel or a sanctuary and is one of the few fiestas that is celebrated outside the town.
The departure from the town to the shrine is a public ceremony with all participants in a specific order. Flags and standards are borne by horsemen followed by decorated carts, men or women who are serving a pennance, tractors, lorries and all sorts of agricultural vehicles. The municipal band usually provides the music.
One of the most spectacular is the one devoted to the Virgen del Rocío, popularly called ‘El Rocio’, with nearly a million people from all over Spain making the long journey to gather in the small village of El Rocio in the marshlands of the Guadalquivir River delta.
It is here that the statue of the ‘Madonna of the Dew'” has been worshipped since 1280. The pilgrims come on horseback and in brightly decorated covered wagons from all over the region, transforming the area into one big party.
The climax of the festival is the weekend before Pentecost Monday. In the early hours of the Monday, the Virgin is brought from the church, an event which is always televised.