Catholic pilgrims traveling to El Rocio leap across the river Guadalquivir to board a ferry to the Donana National Park in Spain

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The El Rocio pilgrimage dates back to 1653 and attracts more than a million Catholic pilgrims from all over Spain to the small shrine of El Rocio in the province of Huelva in Andalusia. A statue of the Virgin Mary was said to have been discovered in a tree trunk by a hunter from the village of Villamanrique in the 13th century in the Donana park. This marked the site for future pilgrims, known as Rocieros, travel in groups called brotherhoods on foot or with horses, wagons and elaborate horse-drawn carriages designed to transport their silver and gold Madonnas to the shrine in the village of El Rocio.

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Size: 4896px × 3264px
Location: Sanlucar de Barrameda, Andalusia, Spain
Photo credit: © Wamodo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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