Pilgrimage to El Rocio
Huelva Apartments: El Rocio, a celebration that combines religion and fiesta
El Rocio is about to start and if you want to experience true Spanish culture and tradition, you should go there from May 27th to June 1st. The celebration combines religion and fiesta, and is held 50 days after Easter. Hundreds of thousands of people come from all over Spain, and even abroad, to make this annual pilgrimage to the Blanca Paloma Shrine in the village of El Rocio, 17 kilometres from the town of Almonte (Huelva province).
The pilgrimage begins with a walk through the ancient footpaths that converge around the River Guadalquivir. From dawn to dusk, a cloak embroidered with the moon and stars covers the tiny village of El Rocio. Join the pilgrims, accompanied throughout the entire camino (journey) by the drumming, to the rhythm of the drums and the sound of the flutes.
In addition to the drumming, fireworks stud the sky, guiding and calling the stragglers and, behind them, the hermandades (brotherhoods) with their staffs and flags, in a cloud of fringes, polka dots and flowers.
The most typical way of doing the pilgrimage is on horseback, in one of the carretas (decorated wagons) or on foot, journeying through the marshlands and sleeping out in the open. On Sunday night no-one sleeps in anticipation of being able to enter the church and join in the procession of the Blanca Paloma (White Dove), by which the Virgin of El Rocio is known. The most exciting moment of all is the salto (leap), when the people of the nearby town of Almonte enter the shrine, leaping over the railings, and lead their Virgin in procession through the village.
More than a million people and close to one hundred different brotherhoods enjoy the wonderful festive atmosphere of this pilgrimage to the village of El Rocio. Candles, torches and flares illuminate the simpecados, a banner of the Virgin transported under an elaborately decorated canopy, one for each hermandad, while thousands of people sing the Mysteries in honour of Our Lady, reeling off the prayer like pearls of love.
El Rocio
Dates: 5/27/2009 – 6/1/2009
