ROCIO CHICO

This refers to the transfer of the White Dove (the Virgin of the Rocio) from the hermitage of Our Lady of the Rocio to the town of Almonte. Every seven years, the Virgin of the Rocio is dressed as a shepherdess and carried on the shoulders of the people of Almonte for 15 kilometers through pine forests and sandy areas. During the day, after the exciting "leap over the fence," the Virgin of the Rocio is paraded through the streets, as tradition dictates, until late in the afternoon. At dusk, the Queen of the Marshes is protected and adorned with a cape or duster to safeguard her during her nighttime journey until the first light of dawn announces her arrival at the park known as El Chaparral in Almonte. In front of thousands of people, and exclusively by the hands of the chambermaids, her cape is delicately removed along with her face cloth, so that she may reappear as Queen. There she will remain for nine months until the following year when she will return to the village of the Rocio for Pentecost.

The photographs in this report were taken in 2019 and 2026 due to the impossibility of covering all the crucial moments. Therefore, the route runs from the Rocio to Almonte. Some of the images contrast sharply between the peace and tranquility of Almonte, with its streets adorned and decorated in the days leading up to the pilgrimage, and the day of the pilgrims' arrival from the Rocio. The 2026 religious pilgrimage of the transfer brought together 1.4 million people, a historic record and the largest pilgrimage ever recorded in Spain.