British writer and Hispanophile, Gerald Brenan wrote an enthusiastic letter to his friend Ralph Partridge in 1958 about his recent adventure at the El Rocio festival. He gushed: “And now I must really sit down and write you an account of the Romeria of the Virgen del Rocio, the Virgin of the Dew, where I spent four of the happiest and most delicious days of my life……. No, as long as I live, I shall never forget the Rocío, its amazing beauty and its gaiety, the most wonderful thing I have ever seen in my life.”
Many of the pilgrims and tourists who make their way to the small town of El Rocio in Huelva, Andalusia, share his enthusiasm. But besides its fame as a great place to hang out for the food, sherry, and festivities, El Rocio holds a much more profound significance for many people in Spain. Every Pentecost, brotherhoods, confraternities, and devotees from all over the country and beyond, make their way to southwest Spain to express their intense adoration for the Virgin of El Rocio. And what better way to do that than with a manic few days of song, dance, music, prayer, camaraderie, food, and a shipload of sherry.
The town of El Rocio has a distinctive New Mexico/South Cali vibe to it, with its population of barely 1700 people, streets of compacted sand and 18th and 19th century architecture. There are more horses than people, making them the most common form of transport, the streets devoid of cars, save for a few authorized vehicles.
Like a set from a Spaghetti Western, the whitewashed and ochre houses and bars offer hitching posts for the horses and there is not a traffic light or signpost in sight. Many houses and bars in town remain closed during the year and exist solely for the hoards of pilgrims that descend in horse-drawn and oxen-drawn carriages, horseback or on foot during the week leading up to Whit Sunday.
Men, women, and children ride horses, mules, and donkeys, or sit in trailers pulled by tractors or ox-pulled wagons festooned with laced curtains and artificial or real flowers. Think, Oregon Trail meets Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The caravan of pilgrims passes through miles of sand, dust, pine forest, olive groves, and over rivers, camping in tents or in their wagons and trailers. The men look dashing in their traditional Andalusian short jacket, wide-brimmed hat and leather chaps. The women are as exotic as always in their brightly coloured flamenco dresses, loop earrings and flowers in the hair.
Early afternoon, the procession stops for lunch and a siesta to wait out the hottest time of the day. Baskets are pulled out brimming with hams, potato omelettes, prawns, gazpacho, salmorejo, and salads. Migas from yesterday’s bread are fried up in the meat juices and left-overs from last night’s meal, topped with a fried egg.
In the evening there are the clapping of hands and castanets, the stamping of feet and drums, and the swirl of bodies around the campfire. Everywhere there is a fervour of celebration and joy. After a long hot day of travel, the cooling evenings are the time for communal gatherings. Grills, fires and stoves are set up for warming cooked meals of chickpea, meat and vegetable stew, rice dishes, omelettes, or seafood. Local wines and sherries are passed around, and everyone bathes in the festive atmosphere of conviviality, religious devotion, and Andalusian tradition.
The Virgin of El Rocio spends every day of the year but one, in an alcove in the Hermitage of El Rocio, situated on the edge of the wetlands of Doñana National Park. Standing at 1.5m tall, her face, hands and the diminutive baby Jesus are the only carved parts of the statue we can see. The rest of her body is adorned in richly brocaded Baroque style garments, topped with a golden crown and halo.
On the night of Whitsunday, the affiliate brotherhoods wait outside the door of the hermitage in order of antiquity. Status and hierarchy are jealously guarded, and when the time comes for the Virgin to be carried outside, there is much jostling and scrambling among the members to steer her towards their representative house or chapel. But first, they must race to reach her at the ‘salto de la reja’ (the frenzied jump over the wrought iron railing that cordons off the Virgin from the rest of the church). The “salto” is the most anticipated moment of the night that takes place between 2-3am Monday morning.
The most agile and pushy have the privilege of carrying her float out into the streets to begin the processions. The waiting hoards outside are also enthusiastic in their attempts to get close and touch the Virgin who, swaying dangerously above the crowds, looks down from her lofty perch, as if to say, boys, boys, calm down. And yes, they are mostly men. In 2022, the frenzy resulted in some damage, and she was fitted with a new internal structure of carbon fibre and aeronautic aluminium.
There is a cult-like zeal about the Marian rocieros (worshippers). Her mere presence elicits strong emotions even among the non-religious. The intense devotion brings comfort, hope, and feelings of divine intercession to those who believe she has performed miracles and answered prayers. In fact, many miracles are attributed to la Virgin del Rocio; she appeared when the plantations were dry during a time of drought, making it rain and leaving the plants glistening with waterdrops (rocio) – hence the origin of her name.
The legend of El Rocio goes back to the 13th century, when a shepherd (or hunter) was out walking his dogs and he saw among the undergrowth of an olive tree, the image of a virgin. He decided to take her home and stopped to have a nap along the way. When he woke up, she had gone. He returned to the tree and saw her once again hidden amongst the bushes. He decided to go back to town and tell the church about the experience, and a shrine has existed in her honour ever since.
In 1270, Alfonso X (The Wise) ordered a hermitage built, which stood for a few hundred years, undergoing repairs during the 17th century. Unfortunately it was badly damaged during the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, so a second hermitage was built, itself demolished to make way for the present hermitage which dates from the 1960s.
El Rocío has become the largest pilgrimage in Europe. More than one million people from all over the world come to experience the passion, excitement, and emotion of El Rocio. Visitors of all denominations and persuasions are welcomed and plied with food, wine, and conversation. Many houses remain open throughout the day and well into the night, where local food, sherry and music, as well as a feeling of kinship and community is extended to all.
“El Rocio is not a fiesta. El rocio is life, and life is emotion or it’s nothing.”