This week’s dream: A festive pilgrimage through Andalusia
“The best way to get to know a new country is to party with it,” said Anna Hart in The New York Times. Shortly after I moved to Spain last year, I received a warm welcome when I took part in Romería de El Rocío, “a highoctane spectacle of flamenco dresses, caravans, and religious fervor.” Each spring, in celebration of Pentecost, thousands of people from across Andalusia, in southernmost Spain, don decorative costumes and, as they did last week, walk for days to visit a Catholic shrine in the town of El Rocío. The women wear bright ruffly dresses, while the men—many on horseback—wear cropped jackets and wide-brimmed Cordoba hats. “The El Rocío pilgrimage is arguably the most potent visual representation of Andalusian culture.”
My travel companion and I encountered our first caravan south of Seville, in Doñana National Park. As we wandered through the forest, “we heard the faint tinkle of cowbells, the clap of horses’ hooves, creaking caravan wheels, the strains of flamenco guitar, voices singing in unison.” Smiling pilgrims handed us bottles of Cruzcampo beer and slices of Ibérico ham—proper pilgrim food. “Within minutes, the dusty road had transformed into a festival. The singing reached a crescendo.” Other caravans also pulled us into the revelry. We were dragged into flamenco dances, fed stew, and advised to take a siesta afterward in the grass. It didn’t matter that we weren’t fluent in Spanish. “Our amazement and curiosity was received as a sign of respect.”
Catholicism is waning in Spain, and while we did see religious fervor in the streets of El Rocío, “there was also fervor for fervor itself.” Many people view the pilgrimage as a family reunion as much as a religious holiday, with extended families and groups of friends traveling, eating, dancing, drinking, and camping in the forests and fields. And it was spectacular when the hermandades (brotherhoods of pilgrims) all converged. As someone raised on no-frills religious celebrations, “I found myself intoxicated by the pageantry and rituals, and by the idea that a pilgrimage can and should also be a source of revelry.”
At Seville’s centrally located Hotel Palacio Villapanés (palaciovillapanes.com), doubles start at $306 during festival season.