Pilgrimage of Faith
The Spanish have a way of making the Virgin Mary the patron saint of just about everything. That is why we refer to her with so many different names, such as Virgen de los Dolores (Virgin of the Pains), etc. As a consequence, we get women's names that sound normal in Spanish but absolutely strange in English. Amparo (Succour), Pilar (Pillar), Nieves (Snows), Dolores (Pains), and Rocío (Dew), are some of those names. All of them refer to a different patronage or name of the Virgin Mary. Each of them has a feast day, too (can't live without celebrating). Fifty days after Saturday of Holy Week is the festival of the Virgen del Rocío.
This saint has a hermitage in Almonte, Huelva. The festival and pilgrimage to the hermitage date back at least to the fourteenth century. There are now over a hundred hermandades (brotherhoods) of the Virgen del Rocío, mostly from Andalucía and Extremadura. They make a pilgrimage to Almonte every year for the festival. Each hermandad has a simpecado which travels on a cart pulled by oxen or mules. The simpecado is a small representation of the Virgin with the word "sine labe concepta" on it, Latin for "conceived without sin," hence the name, which is a corruption of "sin pecado," "without sin". The most traditional pilgrims travel in gaily decorated covered wagons drawn by horses or mules. Men and women tend to dress in traditional Andalusian clothes. Depending on where they begin the journey, it takes them several dusty days or even more than a week. This year it's taking them several muddy days. There has been torrential rain in Andalucía this month and the lanes through the Parque de Doñana, which surrounds Almonte, are almost impassable. So much so, that some abandoned the wagons this year and travel by car to the sanctuary.
Once at the village, those thousands of pilgrims will camp out in their wagons and await Sunday night. At midnight the different simpecados will go inside the sanctuary to pay homage to the Virgin. When the last one leaves is when the pilgrims will do their "salto de la reja." They will actually jump the gate, open it, and carry out the image of the Virgin on its platform, regally dressed in gold, and carry it all over the village, over thousands of heads, before returning it to the sanctuary the next day.
It's a pilgrimage that is very old, very colorful, very devout, and very large. Thousands of pilgrims embark on a trip that crosses the Parque de Doñana, a biosphere reserve. Every year ecologists complain of the growing number of motorized vehicles that are permitted to enter Doñana. And the mounds of trash left behind. And all the noise along an area where endangered birds and other animals find refuge. And all the dead horses and mules along the way. Horses and mules which normally live in stables or small fields during most of the year are put to a gruelling trip pulling heavy wagons for kilometers during many days. Not all are well-treated and not all survive. Their carcasses are left along the way. While it's true that well over a few thousand horses participate and only around twenty die, it's still inhumane. No one in his right mind runs a marathon without training. But some people expect the horses to do their equivalent without training. That is the dark side of the pilgrimage that seems to become more famous every year.
The good side is that it's only once a year, and the hermandades are becoming conscious about cleaning up after themselves, at least. Last year one of those brotherhoods brought along a tractor to carry all their trash. All the members were lectured on cleaning up after themselves and especially not to leave food remains behind. It's just one brotherhood and just one aspect of the problem, but it's a beginning.
This saint has a hermitage in Almonte, Huelva. The festival and pilgrimage to the hermitage date back at least to the fourteenth century. There are now over a hundred hermandades (brotherhoods) of the Virgen del Rocío, mostly from Andalucía and Extremadura. They make a pilgrimage to Almonte every year for the festival. Each hermandad has a simpecado which travels on a cart pulled by oxen or mules. The simpecado is a small representation of the Virgin with the word "sine labe concepta" on it, Latin for "conceived without sin," hence the name, which is a corruption of "sin pecado," "without sin". The most traditional pilgrims travel in gaily decorated covered wagons drawn by horses or mules. Men and women tend to dress in traditional Andalusian clothes. Depending on where they begin the journey, it takes them several dusty days or even more than a week. This year it's taking them several muddy days. There has been torrential rain in Andalucía this month and the lanes through the Parque de Doñana, which surrounds Almonte, are almost impassable. So much so, that some abandoned the wagons this year and travel by car to the sanctuary.
Once at the village, those thousands of pilgrims will camp out in their wagons and await Sunday night. At midnight the different simpecados will go inside the sanctuary to pay homage to the Virgin. When the last one leaves is when the pilgrims will do their "salto de la reja." They will actually jump the gate, open it, and carry out the image of the Virgin on its platform, regally dressed in gold, and carry it all over the village, over thousands of heads, before returning it to the sanctuary the next day.
It's a pilgrimage that is very old, very colorful, very devout, and very large. Thousands of pilgrims embark on a trip that crosses the Parque de Doñana, a biosphere reserve. Every year ecologists complain of the growing number of motorized vehicles that are permitted to enter Doñana. And the mounds of trash left behind. And all the noise along an area where endangered birds and other animals find refuge. And all the dead horses and mules along the way. Horses and mules which normally live in stables or small fields during most of the year are put to a gruelling trip pulling heavy wagons for kilometers during many days. Not all are well-treated and not all survive. Their carcasses are left along the way. While it's true that well over a few thousand horses participate and only around twenty die, it's still inhumane. No one in his right mind runs a marathon without training. But some people expect the horses to do their equivalent without training. That is the dark side of the pilgrimage that seems to become more famous every year.
The good side is that it's only once a year, and the hermandades are becoming conscious about cleaning up after themselves, at least. Last year one of those brotherhoods brought along a tractor to carry all their trash. All the members were lectured on cleaning up after themselves and especially not to leave food remains behind. It's just one brotherhood and just one aspect of the problem, but it's a beginning.
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