BUT why are they doing it?’ asked Hermione, an aunt, in a Wodehousian sort of way. She had a point. Why indeed? Had any of us stopped to think? On the face of it, the clue was in the word ‘pilgrimage’, suggestive of a lengthy votive journey. However, as to the choice of route and what spirit moved us, it was a fair question to which I had only a partial answer at the outset.
I have twice ridden El Rocio, the great Andalusian pilgrimage by horse, foot and mule cart that converges annually on a village in the Doñana at Pentecost. The Spanish have an enviable habit of making a party of anything. El Rocio is a cocktail of landscape, culture and Catholicism sustained by copious vino. By day, pilgrims sing flamenco hymns and priests kneel before ox-cart-borne silver effigies of the Rocio Virgin. By night, they light fires in gypsy-wagon circles and accompany flamenco with mesmeric palmas clapping.
El Rocio is very different to Spain’s betterknown northern pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which is anchored to no particular date. Solitary and sober by comparison—and international in flavour, where El Rocio is almost exclusively Spanish—the Camino hosts an annual 350,000 pilgrims on its ancient routes that converge on the cathedral resting place of St James the Great in Galicia.
Esta historia es de la edición August 24, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 24, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
All gone to pot
Jars, whether elegant in their glazed simplicity or exquisitely painted, starred in London's Asian Art sales, including an exceptionally rare pair that belonged to China's answer to Henry VIII
Food for thought
A SURE sign of winter in our household are evenings in front of the television.
Beyond the beach
Jewels of the natural world entrance the eyes of Steven King, as Jamaica's music moves his feet and heart together
Savour the moment
I HAVE a small table and some chairs a bleary-eyed stumble from the kitchen door that provide me with the perfect spot to enjoy an early, reviving coffee.
Size matters
Architectural Plants in West Sussex is no ordinary nursery. Stupendous specimens of some of the world's most dramatic plants are on display
Paint the town red
Catriona Gray meets the young stars lighting up the London art scene, from auctioneers to artists and curators to historians
The generation game
For a young, growing family, moving in with, or adjacent to, the grandparents could be just the thing
Last orders
As the country-house market winds down for Christmas, two historic properties—one of which was home to the singer Kate Bush-may catch the eye of London buyers looking to move to the country next year
Eyes wide shut
Sleep takes many shapes in art, whether sensual or drunken, deathly or full of nightmares, but it is rarely peaceful. Even slumbering babies can convey anxiety
Piste de résistance
Scotland's last ski-maker blends high-tech materials with Caledonian timber to create 'truly Scottish', one-off pieces of art that can cope with any type of terrain