00:00This is the festival of El Rocio, where people thrust themselves and sometimes their children towards the Virgin Mary.
00:07It's one of Spain's biggest Catholic pilgrimages.
00:10Every year, around a million people come here by foot, on horseback, and by car.
00:20Hello, good afternoon. I'm Emilia. I'm 25 years old, and I believe in God and I'm Christian because since I
00:26was a little girl, my family instilled it in me.
00:29We're a Christian family.
00:33Over two days will follow how this intense and emotional festival unfolds, who comes here, and what drives their devotion.
00:45Fifty days after Easter, the quiet village of El Rocio, around 80 kilometers southwest of Seville, transforms into a vast
00:54gathering of believers.
00:56Pilgrims arrive from across Spain, many traveling for days in organized fraternities known as hermandades.
01:03Among them is Emilia Blanca Ortega.
01:06She's traveled more than 550 kilometers from the north of Spain to be here, retracing a path she's followed since
01:13childhood,
01:14and a tradition first started by her grandparents now passed down through generations.
01:22To be honest, I'm here mainly because of my grandparents.
01:26They've been coming to this pilgrimage since they were very young, and they've passed that tradition on to me.
01:33So I'm here because of them.
01:40Many of the pilgrims are dressed in traditional Andalusian attire, including vibrant flamenco dresses, and they share a purpose.
01:49To honor the Virgin Mary during Pentecost, marking the moment the Holy Spirit appeared to the followers of Jesus.
01:57For Emilia, this pilgrimage is more than a journey.
02:00It's part of who she is.
02:01But why is her faith so important to her?
02:07For me, believing in God has helped me when I've been going through sad moments in my life.
02:13I often ask the Virgin of El Rocio to help me, and I have a deep devotion to her.
02:23It's a feeling that can't really be explained.
02:32By profession, Emilia is a nurse currently training to become a midwife, a role devoted to bringing life into the
02:39world.
02:40She says her faith is just as central to her work as it is to her life, giving her strength
02:45when she needs it most.
02:47Spain is historically very Catholic, but nowadays it's not strongly religious in practice.
02:54Statistics in Spain show that among 18 to 24-year-olds, only about 33 percent identify as religious.
03:01But for Emilia, those numbers don't play a significant role in her life.
03:06From my point of view, young people are not losing their faith.
03:09I believe what they want to do is to return to what their ancestors used to do, so they don't
03:14lose their traditions,
03:16and so they can pass them on in the future to their children and to the rest of the world.
03:20The Romeria de El Rocio is a highly emotional event.
03:25Legend has it that a hunter found a statue of the Virgin Mary deep in the marshes of this area,
03:31near a tree or a bush.
03:32When he tried to take it back to his village, the statue mysteriously returned to the place where it was
03:38found.
03:40People believed this was a sign that the Virgin Mary wanted to remain there.
03:45So a sanctuary was built on that spot.
03:52On the second day of the event, the Virgin Mary is brought out of the sanctuary and paraded around the
03:58town of El Rocio.
04:00It's a scene of chaotic devotion, with pilgrims trying to get as close to her as possible, even lifting their
04:07children onto the float.
04:11And how did Emilia experience the Virgin Mary?
04:15I feel very fortunate, because they placed the Virgin right next to our house, directly in front of my grandparents'
04:22place.
04:23It's been very special, because they were the ones who taught me all of this, and it's a privilege to
04:28have both of them here, and for the Virgin to come close to them.
04:33In El Rocio, faith doesn't feel like it's fading.
04:37It feels alive.
04:39The pilgrims here carry their beliefs with intensity, and for many, like Emilia, that faith is deeply personal.
04:49I'm very happy, and already looking forward to next year, so I can come and see her again.
04:58And then, as suddenly as it began, it's over.
05:03The Virgin Mary is carried back into the sanctuary, and this is where the pilgrimage comes to an end.
05:13For many, it marks the culmination of weeks of preparation, but the devotion itself doesn't stop here.
05:22It continues until the pilgrims return again next year.
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