El Rocío - History of the Virgin of the Rocío

Almonte · Huelva · Andalusia · 13th century

In the marshes of Guadalquivir, where the earth becomes water and the water in heaven, a small image of wood that appears in a hollow tree calls each year more than a million people in the largest Romeria in Spain.

The legend of the hunter: how the image appeared

Tradition tells that, in the 13th century (some place the history to 1280), a hunter of Almonte called Gil Ponce He chased his dogs through the marshes of the Coto de Doñana when he got into the thickness of the pine. Suddenly, their dogs stopped barking in front of a hollow tree. In the obity he found an image of the Virgin, of a simple size, covered in weeds.

The hunter, boarded with devotion, took off the sayo, wrapped the image and began the way back to Almonte to take it to the church. However, the tiredness of the road overcame him and fell asleep in the shadow of a tree. When he woke up, the image was gone. He sought it and found it again in the same tree where he had found it. He tried a second and a third time: he always went back to the tree place.

The neighbors of Almonte interpreted the prodigy as the will of the Virgin to remain there, on the border between the pine and the marshes. There they built a first hermitage.

The image: the "Pastora de las Marismas"

The image that is being venerated today is an Andalusian Gothic size of the XIII-XIV century, of Alamus wood58 cm high. It shows the Virgin as a shepherd (hence her other name, "Pastor of the Marisms" or "Queen of the Marisms"): she carries in her right hand a silver scepter with the pigeon's chest - the symbol of the Holy Spirit - and on the left to her Son.

The face is of a serene and somewhat hieratic expression, very in the style of the Marian Gothic stems of southern Spain. It's covered with a simsin (gold-embroidered mantle) and is covered throughout the year with rich garments. It is not a permanent public image: the shrimp of the hermitage only opens at specified times.

The Matrix Brotherhood of Almonte

The first Sisterhood of the Rocíothe Matrix, was founded in Almonte the 10 September 1653when the City Council of Almonte formalized its devotion to the Virgin. It's the "mother" brotherhood of everyone else. The Almonds have the exclusive privilege of taking out the Virgin in procession during the Romeria, carrying her to the shoulders, without a reel or a pallet - directly on the shoulders of the "almonteños" that form the group of carriers.

In 1653 there were only a few hermandades. There are currently more than 120 subsidiary hermandades recognized, distributed throughout Spain and even by other countries. Each brotherhood has its own chariot, its own sin (Marian standard) and its particular traditions on the way.

La Romeria: Spain's largest pilgrimage

The Romeria del Rocío is held every year in Pentecost - on Sunday 50 days after Easter. It is the most massive pilgrimage in Spain and one of the largest in the Catholic world. The hermandades start from their respective localities days before, some on foot, others on oxen carts with flowers and white mantillas, walking sand roads through the Doñana National Park.

The river crossing Burn by boat (for the hermandades coming from the Aljarafe) is one of the most photographed moments: the gilded caravans form endless caravans. The hermandades that access the road of the vera cross the National Park through sabinars and pinears in an unparalleled show.

The "gate jump"

In the morning of Saturday to Sunday of Pentecost, when the Virgin is still in her shrimp, the most exciting and chaotic moment occurs: the Almonds - and only them out of historical privilege - saltan la reja from the altar and take the Virgin in the arms to the street. It is a moment without protocol, without official order, when the people feel that the Virgin is their own. The image is then covered to the shoulders for hours by the Rocío sands.

The sanctuary: the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Rocío

The present hermitage was built between 1964 y 1969, with project by architect José Galnares Sagastizábal. It is a neomudéjar-style building and Andalusian neobaroque, white brick, with a torre-bell tower that is already a visual icon of the village. The total area is 7,000 m ².

La Rocío village, in the municipality of Almonte, it has the peculiarity of being a town that for eleven months a year is almost empty: its unasphalted sand streets, its white facade houses with wooden porches, its horses grazing freely. In Pentecost alone it becomes the most populated city of Huelva, with more than a million people in a few days.

The patronage and recognition

• Patron saint of Almonte since inmemorial times.
• Queen of the Marsh - popular title by location on the edge of the park.
• Canonical coronation: the image was canonically crowned the 18 May 1919 by Cardinal Enrique Almaraz Santos, Archbishop of Seville.
• The Pope Juan Pablo II She visited her on her pilgrimage to Spain (June 1993) and greeted her from the helicopter when she flew over the village.
• Declared International Tourist Interest Festival in 1980.