El Camino
Every Pentecost, thousands of people converge on the hamlet of El Rocío from all over Andalusia. A pilgrimage lasting several days in honour of the Virgin Mary, who is said to have appeared to a local shepherd in the 15th century.
While this journey is certainly an ode to religion, it is above all a celebration of the human race at its most beautiful: fraternity, hospitality, benevolence and the inexorable love of life. Along the way, groups of people come and go, wait for each other, help and support each other, pray, sing, drink and laugh. A long procession of pilgrims and horsemen who walk to the rhythm of the Simpecados (religious banners), drawn by bulls or horses.
Not everyone in the assembly is a devout churchgoer, far from it. While some say they can’t start a day without going to church, others are happy to go only on the biggest festivals, and even then. But here, only one thing matters: being together. Once at El Rocío, family and friends push back the walls to share the moment. We sleep 2 or more in single beds. Make-up is applied in the kitchen. Voices are heard everywhere, children run about, friends and strangers come and go. Plates of jámon and cheese come and go. Everything is an excuse to get out a guitar and dance. A people whose passion exuberates and whose hearts overflow until the long-awaited moment: the Virgin’s emergence from her pedestal on Sunday night…
