el camino europeo

Journal of Religion in Europe 3 (2010) 256–284

Journal of Religion in Europe brill.nl/jre

El Camino Europeo del Rocío: A Pilgrimage towards Europe?* Eddy Plasquy University of Leuven, Social Sciences, IARA Correspondence: Keizer Karellaan 14, 1982 Elewijt-Zemst, Belgium [email protected]

Abstract In 2000, a reunion of ‘Eurocrats’ founded the Brotherhood of Brussels in honour of the Virgen del Rocío and became quickly integrated in the official network that foments the devotion to the South Spanish Virgin Mary. Soon after, a pilgrimage trail was inaugurated that links the basilica of Brussels to her chapel in the hamlet of El Rocío: the Camino Europeo del Rocío. The pilgrimage passes through eight major Marian sanctuaries in Belgium, France, and Spain. In each of these sites, a representation of the Virgen del Rocío was put in place by the official institutions. In 2007, ten pilgrims actually walked the trail. Once in Madrid, they changed the original track and inaugurated two additional sanctuaries without the consent of the main organizer of the original camino. As such, a variant came into existence: the Camino Europeo del Rocío a pie. The creation of these two ‘European’ pilgrimage trails shall be documented together with the founding process of the brotherhood of Brussels. The manner in which local political and ideological agendas interfere with the intertwining of old traditions and institutions, such as pilgrimages and Brotherhoods, and new emerging conceptions of ‘Europe,’ shall thereby be put to the fore. Keywords Pilgrimage, Europe, Andalusia, brotherhoods, Virgin Mary

*) Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the SIEF conference in Londonderry, 2008 and the AAA conference in San Francisco, 2008. I want to express my gratitude toward Steven Engler and Irene Stengs for their stimulating comments and Filip Deboeck for his continuing support. Special thanks go towards Julio Flores and Antonio de la Serna from the CER in Almonte, the members of ‘La Cruz del Este’ from Huelva and the members of the brotherhoods of Brussels and Almonte. In memory of Antonio Álvares Rafael. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010

DOI 10.1163/187489210X501536

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1. Introduction In October 2007, ten pilgrims arrived at the Spanish shrine of the Virgen del Rocío. They had walked for 98 days and started their journey more than 3,000 km northward in Brussels. Passing through several Marian pilgrimage sites in Belgium, France, and Spain, they finally reached the hamlet of El Rocío, accomplishing the goal they had set for themselves, namely to be the first to walk the “Camino Europeo del Rocío.” Walking from Brussels, a city known as one of the main administrative centres of the European Community and recognized as the symbolic heart of the European institutions, to a local shrine in the most southern part of Andalusia, situated in a sleepy hamlet where the streets are covered with sand and horses are strolling on the roads, does not seem to make much sense at first. And yet, the symbolic connection between these two enigmatic places has not been made by chance, and neither have these pilgrims been alone in figuring it out. In the years before, a remarkable mixture of religious expansionism and nostalgic localism had already brought together two other protagonists, who were to become the main promoters of the idea to connect both emblematic sites. On the one hand, there is the brotherhood of Almonte, which is not only the body responsible for the yearly organization of the collective pilgrimage, the so-called Romería del Rocío, but also the head of an extended network of more than a hundred brotherhoods that share their devotion. On the other hand, we have a Catholic gathering, of which most members work at the European institutions in Brussels. This unit became an officially affiliated brotherhood in the year 2000. As such, the Hermandad de Bruselas was the first, and until now the only one, to be founded outside of Spain. The encounter between the two was clearly facilitated by their common imagination of ‘Europe’ as a symbolic space. For the Almontese, the presence of the brotherhood of Brussels at the romería signified that the celebration was launched, in one giant leap, into a European orbit. For the ‘Spanish Eurocrats,’ the Hermandad de Bruselas’ participation as a brotherhood signified the official recognition of their identity as ‘New Europeans.’ Their mutual interest to integrate ideas of ‘Europe’ within the context of the romería and the devotion to the Virgen del Rocío became even more concrete when the brotherhood of Brussels proposed to establish a pilgrimage trail between Brussels and El Rocío. The project was realised between 2000 and 2003. The Camino Europeo del Rocío started quite

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humbly, but gained more prestige along the way. This made that not only the choice of the sanctuaries became more and more important, but also the election of the participating brotherhoods that were to act as godfather during the inauguration of each stage. In a country with literally hundreds of sanctuaries, this election was not an easy one. What complicated the case even more was the fact that centuries-old rivalries started to resurface once the trail approached its end. While El Rocío is part of the province of Huelva, the influence of the powerful brotherhoods of Sevilla could not be neglected either. Both the brotherhoods of Sevilla and Huelva intended to bring the camino to their patron saint and to integrate their province and city into what seemed to become a prestigious European project. On the other hand, it was quite complicated to visit both, given the fact that El Rocío is situated between them. It would have implicated that pilgrims almost had to drive by it, in order to come back afterwards, which did not make much sense. The brotherhood of Almonte finally decided to celebrate the ultimate stage in Sevilla and to leave aside Huelva. Although the brotherhoods of Huelva were not amused, it must be said that, once the decision was made, the local envy cooled down as quickly as it had flamed up in the first place. However, things changed when the ten pilgrims of Huelva presented their plan to walk the camino and decided to put things straight. Besides their clear evangelical mission to foment the devotion to the Virgen del Rocío, they left no doubt that the trail would be modified. Instead of walking to Sevilla, they planned to walk to Huelva once they left Madrid. In the meantime, it was planned that two more sanctuaries would be integrated in this new version of the trail, one in the capital of Huelva and another in Cáceres, in the province of Badajoz, situated north of Huelva. Now the brotherhood of Almonte was not pleased. With this variant of the official camino, which came to be known as the Camino Europeo del Rocío a pie, the whole project took a different turn and, more importantly, one that escaped their direct control. The manner in which this story began and further evolved is interesting in several respects. Firstly, it illustrates to what extent ‘Europe’ is being imagined and appropriated within the broader phenomenon of pilgrimage. Both the establishment of the brotherhood of Brussels and the coming into being of a symbolic connection between the ‘centre of Europe’ and El Rocío, are in this respect quite remarkable cases. Secondly, it illuminates the tensions and strategies between the different official organizers and the dissidents; the local interests of the implied provinces and cities; and the

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role of the clerics within this delicate context. Thirdly, the peculiar position of Brussels as the site where the camino started, triggers a reflection on the connotations that are related to the starting place of a pilgrimage. Finally, the coming into being of both caminos exemplifies how the material as well as metaphorical ideas of specific ‘places,’ i.e. Brussels, are part and parcel of the ‘ritualised way of moving’ by which ‘symbolic spaces’ are becoming re-sacralised within a European context. The evolving story will be described in detail. Field observations in El Rocío since 2001, recent visits to several sanctuaries along the trail, and extended interviews with the group of pilgrims and informants of both the brotherhoods of Brussels and Almonte, provide the core information. These data are complimented with press articles and publications which further document this evolving story. However, before these aforementioned topics can be tackled, the general context needs to be sketched out: firstly, by taking a brief look at pilgrimage as a social phenomenon, the concept of ‘Europe,’ and the emerging connectedness between both; secondly, by outlining the characteristics of the romería in El Rocío and the main protagonists in the creation of both Caminos Europeo.

2. Pilgrimages, their Sites of Departure, and Europe Pilgrimage, as a social phenomenon, has received a fair amount of attention in the last decennia.1 This interest does not only follow the remarkable revitalization of some centuries-old pilgrimages, but also the astonishing proliferation of new expressions of pilgrimage. An example of the first change is undoubtedly the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, of which the actual popularity, compared to the situation before the Second World War, is considered by Nancy Frey as nothing less than a true

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According to William Swatos, the nature of this ‘pilgrimage research’ is to a large extent ‘overdetermined’ by the appearance of ‘tourism’ as a popular leisure activity, which, as a consequence, sidelined the religious significance of the pilgrimage centre. See: William H. Swatos, Jr., “Pilgrimage without Tourism,” in: William H. Swatos, Jr. (ed.), On the Road to Being There: Studies in Pilgrimage and Tourism in Late Modernity (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006), 3. With a focus on the coming into being of a new pilgrimage trail and the process through which this symbolic space becomes bit by bit sacralized, this study underscores his urge to document small scale pilgrimages, which ‘pass under the radar,’ but which have nevertheless a far from local impact. See: Swatos, On the Road to Being There, viii.

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‘reanimation.’2 Although Frey does not leave doubts that the origins of this revival are to be situated at the particular moment in European history when it served the interests of Church, state, and the individual, she also convincingly demonstrate that from the 1960s on, an interest in alternative spirituality and religious movements became a more relevant factor to explain its growing popularity.3 The growing separation of the spiritual from the religious is not only visible in places which are traditionally associated with ‘sacredness.’ It is also noticeable in the different ways ‘sacredness’ became applied to new contexts. Examples of this abound. Notorious in this respect are Elvis Presley’s mansion in Memphis, Tennessee,4 Ground Zero in New York,5 the Vietnam memorial in Washington,6 and even tourist attractions such as Walt Disney World.7 To deal with these eclectic new forms of ‘sacredness,’ Alan Morinis suggests to no longer restrict this quality to concrete places where according to Mircea Eleade, “heaven and earth meet,”8 but to approach it as a place that a person believes to “embody a valued ideal.”9 Pilgrimage, in a classical way defined as “a quest toward a sacred place,”10 extended with this reorientation beyond the ‘religious realm.’ Whether 2)

Nancy Frey, Pilgrims Stories. On and off the road to Santiago (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 14. 3) Frey, Pilgrims Stories, 14–15. 4) Christine King, “His Truth Goes Marching On: Elvis Presley and the Pilgrimage to Graceland,” in: Ian Reader & Tony Walker (eds.), Pilgrimage in Popular Culture (London: MacMillan, 1993). 5) Anthony Blasi, “Visitation to Disaster Sites,” in: William H. Swatos & Luigi Tomasi (eds.), From Medieval Pilgrimage to Religious Tourism (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002); Jennifer Selby, “The Politics of Pilgrimage: The Social Construction of Ground Zero,” in Swatos, On the Road to Being There, 159–185. 6) Raymond Michalowski & Jill Dubisch, Run for the Wall: Remembering Vietnam on a Motorcycle Pilgrimage (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2001). 7) Cher Krause Knight, “Mickey, Minnie, and Mecca: Destination Disney World, Pilgrimage in the Twentieth Century,” in: Dawn Perlmutter & Debra Koppman (eds.), Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999). 8) Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: the Nature of Religion (Orlando: Harcourt, 1987). 9) Allan Morinis, “Introduction: The Territory of the Anthropology of Pilgrimage,” in: Allan Morinis (ed.), Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992), 4. 10) Daniel H. Olson & Dallen J. Timothy, “Tourism and Religious Journeys,” in: Dallen J. Timothy & Daniel H. Olson (eds.), Tourism, Religion & Spiritual Journeys (London & New York: Routledge, 2006), 5.

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this has provided deeper insights into the ‘traditional’ pilgrimage can be questioned. Peter Jan Margry remarks in this respect that, by broadening the boundaries of pilgrimage to encompass secular journeys, such as Star Trek Conventions, pilgrimage scholars can perhaps go where they have never gone before, the question of what the term ‘pilgrimage’ exactly means and “what should be regarded as the criteria for a pilgrimage has only become more complicated.”11 In order to clear the confusion, he suggests to focus again on the religious dimension of the pilgrimage12 and proposes to view a pilgrimage as “a journey based on religious or spiritual inspiration, undertaken by individuals or groups, to a place that is regarded as more sacred or salutary than the environment of everyday life, to seek a transcendental encounter with a specific cult object for the purpose of acquiring spiritual, emotional or physical healing or benefit.”13 This ‘extended’ description resonates with Vukonićs much shorter definition of a pilgrimage as “a physical journey in search of truth, in search of what is sacred or holy.”14 Although both explicitly mention the necessity to go to some specific place, their approach to that place differs slightly. For Margry, the focal point remains the sacred place where to the pilgrim is headed, while Vukonić gives more prominence to the journey itself. The attention that ‘the journey’ is getting in their approaches of pilgrimage as a social phenomenon looks quite logical. As a matter of fact, it is already implied in the Latin origin of the word ‘pilgrimage,’ namely peregrinus, which comes from per, ‘trough,’ and ager, ‘field’ or ‘land,’ thereby underlining the ideas of a journey and a predetermined destination.15 However, Coleman and Eade recently remarked that “‘movement’ has rarely been a major focus in previous studies.”16 Reflecting on the way the 11)

Peter Jan Margry, “Secular Pilgrimage: A Contradiction in Terms?,” in: Peter Jan Margry (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries into the Sacred (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008), 20. 12) By circumscribing religiosity first as “all notions and ideas that human being have regarding their experience of the sacred or the supernatural in order to give meaning to life and to have access to transformative powers that may influence their existential condition.” (Margry, Secular Pilgrimage, 17). 13) Margry, Secular Pilgrimage, 17. 14) Vukonić cited in: Olsen & Dallen, Tourism and Religious Journeys, 3. 15) James Harpur, Sacred Tracks: 2000 Years of Christian Pilgrimage (London: Frances Lincoln, 2002), 9. 16) Simon Coleman & John Eade, “Introduction: Reframing pilgrimage,” in: Simon Coleman & John Eade (eds.), Reframing Pilgrimage: Cultures in Motion (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), 8.

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phenomenon of pilgrimage came under the interest of anthropologists, they point instead towards two other mayor landmarks: on the one hand, the work of the Turners, related to Christian pilgrimage,17 where it was framed as a liminoïd phenomenon, “which is productive of social encounters without hierarchical constraints.”18 On the other hand there are the contributions of Sallnow, later accompanied by Eade, which profoundly critiqued the Turners’ point of view for its ‘sterile functionalism.’19 Directly opposing the communitas paradigm, they brought the focus on “the role of major shrines in hosting—and amplifying—discrepant discourses among varied groups of pilgrims, thus acting as ‘empty vessels‘ that can reflect back visitors’ objectified assumptions in sacralized form.”20 As a consequence of this postmodern stand, the phenomenon of ‘pilgrimage’ as such, could no longer be taken for granted. This raised quite a few eyebrows. Their conclusion was not shared by Coleman and Elsner, who pointed out “the considerable structural similarities in pilgrimage practices within and between traditions.”21 While not neglecting the fact that pilgrims indeed can “engage in a multiplicity of frequently incompatible interpretations,”22 they suggested to take four structural dimensions into account when engaging in a comparative study of the phenomenon of pilgrimage, namely: ‘persons,’ ‘texts,’ ‘places,’ and ‘movements.’ According to these scholars, a focus on the relationship between these elements would further encourage a reflection on pilgrimages, not so much as a static and constant entity, but rather “as a shifting constellation of features, often familiar from other contexts.”23 More recently, Coleman and Eade brought ‘movement’ even more to the fore as an overarching concept to approach 17)

Victor Turner & Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978). 18) Coleman & Eade, Reframing Pilgrimage, 3. 19) Michael J. Sallnow, “Communitas Reconsidered: the Sociology of Andean Pilgrimage,” Man 16 (1981), 163–182; Michael J. Sallnow, Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cusco (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987); John Eade & Michael J. Sallnow, Contesting the Sacred: The Anthropology of Christian Pilgrimage (London & New York: Routledge, 1991). 20) Coleman & Eade, Reframing Pilgrimage, 4. 21) Simon Coleman & John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Past and Present in the World Religions (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), 202. 22) Coleman & Elsner, Pilgrimage, 202. 23) Coleman & Elsner, Pilgrimage, 205.

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pilgrimage. They do this by broadening the concept by discerning four different, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, understandings of the topic. Firstly, as a performative action that can effect certain social and cultural transformations; secondly as an embodied action which can trigger a certain kind of bodily experiences; thirdly, as a part of a semantic field, thereby referring to the need to contextualize its meaning within the local cultural understanding of mobility and in doing so, avoiding essentializing movement as a category; and fourthly, as a metaphor, by which the authors refer to the ways in which pilgrimage-related discourses may evoke movement rather than its physical instantiation.24 Kim Knott, on the other hand, points to the active role space itself plays in contributing to the nature and location of religion within it: “enveloping social, cultural, religious, economic and political factors, and making them available for focused study.”25 While for Henri Lefebvre the starting point is the need to analyse the connections between particular sets of social relations and their spatial embodiment, Knott extends this concept of social relations by viewing them not only between people, but also between people and things, people and places, people and symbols, and the imagined relations between them.26 Space is thus seen to be practiced, thought, and sensed. These activities bring space and it various places into being, and then repeatedly reproduce and adapt them. According to Knott, ritual practice is thus basically a spatial practice, but one which is transformed by religious meaning, and often, performed in the context of a space set apart as sacred.27 As I already mentioned when touching upon the definition of Margry and Vukonić, dealing with the ‘journey’ of a pilgrimage almost automatically implies a focus on its destination (the sacred place), its performative action (the walking, for example), or on both. Only seldom is the starting point of the journey taken into account. As a matter of fact, most of the time it is taken for granted that pilgrims leave their known environment, as a preliminary and natural action before embarking on a pilgrimage. This is undoubtedly true, but the point is that the site from where the pilgrim embarks on his journey does not necessarily coincide with their actual 24)

Coleman & Eade, Reframing Pilgrimage, 16–17. Kim Knott, The Location of Religion: A Spatial Analysis (London & Oakville: Equinox, 2005), 121–122. 26) Knott, The Location of Religion, 21. 27) Knott, The Location of Religion, 43. 25)

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place of residence. While the latter is a geographically situated place, the former is first and foremost an important spatial and symbolic referent for the whole journey. Not only as the physical place from where the journey starts, but as the symbolic location where the goal of the pilgrimage connects with the biographical life of the pilgrim.28 Whether or not a pilgrim perceives his home as the site to start his journey depends largely on the intentions with which he/she leaves the house or village to go toward a pilgrimage site and the actual importance of the location in question. These personal intentions are fairly difficult to deduce from the way someone walks out of the door, unless it is specifically mentioned or accompanied by a special act. However, when pilgrims embark upon their journey as a group from their village, this is much easier to observe. A good example of such a formal departure takes places at the start of the yearly collective pilgrimages which are organised in the numerous villages and neighbourhoods in Andalusia to celebrate the patron saint. A basic act of these celebrations consists in a camino towards the chapel where the statue of the patron saint is kept. However, before leaving the village, a whole ritual sequence is performed which consists basically in a mass and a procession throughout the village. After leaving the village, the order of the procession is broken up, and everybody goes on at his own pace. However, when the camino approaches its end, the initial order is restored and the entering of the pilgrimage site regains a formal character. Pilgrims who embark on their camino towards Santiago mostly depart from very specific locations. When starting from France, one of the most popular sites in this respect is surely Roncevalles. Going to this place, whether it is done from the United States, Norway, Japan, or even from within France itself, is only a matter of straightforward travel, because it is only from there on, that the ‘real stuff ’ begins. The history of Roncevalles is closely connected with the camino. Its historical legends relate to the trail, while the pilgrims’ hospital and the two gothic churches both mark its centuries-old tradition. During the evening Mass, an eight-hundredyear-old pilgrim’s blessing is read, “which can help to set the tone of the

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See in this respect also the remarks that Swatos makes regarding the difference between a geographic specific and social specific site when it comes to define a pilgrimage. William H. Swatos, Jr., “Pilgrimage without Tourism,” in William H. Swatos, Jr. (ed.), On the Road to Being There: Studies in Pilgrimage and Tourism in Late Modernity (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006), 24–25.

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journey, even for those pilgrims who are not religious.”29 It is here that the pilgrims, who are about ‘to set off’ on their journey, put the famous scallop shell around the neck. Migrants, who undertake a pilgrimage towards a sacred site in their home country, add yet another dimension to the meaning of the starting place. In these cases, the site from where they depart is, first and foremost, defined through its relation with the place from where they themselves, or their fathers or forefathers, migrated. This is fairly well documented. Zlatko Skribiš, for example, revealed that for Croatian migrants living in Australia, the shrine of Medjugorje, “serves as a symbolic substitute for the past and for an experience that can no longer be captured.”30 As such, the site from where they start, gains is meaning from the fact that it is the place where they are at the moment, in diaspora, in a ‘host country,’ instead of the specific location where they reside at the moment. Related to this host/home country relationship, are the trips that African American citizens undertake to African countries, such as Senegal, Gambia,31 or Ghana,32 with the goal of visiting the material testimonies of the slave trade. Their quest to connect in this way to the past of their forefathers is very often framed as a pilgrimage towards their roots. As in most cases it is quite impossible to trace in a precise way where they came from, this is not the main goal of the journey, which is centred on the commemoration of the cruel fate of their joined forefathers. In this instance, it is obvious that the site from were they ‘embarked’ on their journey, is nothing less than the continent that their ancestors were literally ‘shipped’ to. In any of these aforementioned cases, the place from where the pilgrim left is imbued with a specific symbolic meaning related to its individual biographical life: as someone’s proper home or his village or neighbourhood; as an emblematic site on the trail; or as the place that once their ancestors migrated or were brought to. This significance goes beyond a

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Frey, Pilgrims Stories, 54. Zlatko Skribiš, “From Migrants to Pilgrim Tourists: Diasporic Imagining and Visits to Medjugorje,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 33/3 (2007), 327. 31) Paulla A. Ebron, “Tourists as Pilgrims: commercial fashioning of transatlantic politics,” American Ethnologist, 26/4 (2000), 910–932. 32) Katharina Schramm, “Coming home to the Motherland. Pilgrimage tourism in Ghana,” in: Simon Coleman & John Eade (eds.), Reframing Pilgrimage: Cultures in Motion (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), 133–149. 30)

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merely geographical reference. The sites play their role when it comes to defining a pilgrimage. Together with the trail and the pilgrimage site, the ‘site’ from where the pilgrims start, delineates the symbolic space within which the pilgrim’s pilgrimage will take form. But what to think of Brussels, as the administrative centre of the European Community, as a site to start a pilgrimage trail? What does that venerated Virgin Mary mean, in her modest chapel in El Rocío, literally in one of the most southern borders of Europe, in relation to this centre? What kind of symbolic space is delineated by the pilgrims who undertake such a journey? That the European Union is evolving towards a space that is not only built and imagined in processes that are solely economic or political but also cultural, is a fact that has been observed by several scholars. According to Abélès, the ‘Community,’ within this framework, comes to the fore as a concept that is at the same time essential and vague, thereby enabling that its evocation alone can be of great significance.33 In this context, he uses the concept of a ‘floating signifier,’ introduced by Claude Lévi-Strauss to identify terms such as ‘mana’—the magical mystical substance of which magic is formed—to represent an undetermined quantity of signification, “in itself void of meaning and thus apt to receive any meaning.”34 Shore remarks that, although it might be fashionable to describe ‘Europe’ in a metaphorical way as a ‘fiction’ or an ‘imagined space,’ it is nevertheless clear that it is crucial to reflect on the ways that “this new Europe is being imagined and whose images prevails.”35 This process, also known as ‘Europeanization,’ does not only take place from the top down, but also from the bottom up, as is obvious from the way in which national, entrepreneurial and local interests affect the construction and perception of European identity and the definition of a new political and cultural space within the EU.36 But there is more. Even at grassroots level, we now 33)

Marc Abéles, “Virtual Europe,” in: Irène Bellier & Thomas M. Wilson (eds.), An Anthropology of the European Union: Building, Imagining and Experiencing the New Europe (Oxford: Berg, 2000), 31–52. 34) Abéles, “Virtual Europe,” 42. 35) Cris Shore, Building Europe: The Cultural Politics of European Integration (London & New York: Routledge, 2000), 20. 36) Irène Bellier & Thomas M. Wilson, “Building, Imagining and Experiencing Europe: Institutions and Identities in the European Union,” in: Irène Bellier & Thomas M. Wilson (eds.), An Anthropology of the European Union: Building, Imagining and Experiencing the New Europe (Oxford: Berg, 2000), 20.

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start to see how new initiatives and projects are integrating some concept of ‘Europeanness’ in the formulation of their goals, mission, strategy or structure. Frey describes in a detailed way how this ‘Europeanization’ affected the pilgrimage to Santiago.37 She pointedly remarks that, through the ‘reanimation’ that characterizes the camino from the sixties on, its heritage became perfectly fitted to conform to the fiction of a unified European culture area and identity that the EU wishes to promote. This was officially confirmed when, firstly, the UNESCO named Santiago a World Heritage City in 1985, and secondly, when two years later, the cultural branch of the European Union decided to adopt the pilgrimage route as the premier “European Cultural Itinerary.”38 As such, the example of Santiago clearly illustrates how, from the top down, the fame of an existing pilgrimage can become integrated with new ideas and imaginations of ‘Europe.’ The founding of a brotherhood of Brussels and the coming into being of the Camino Europeo, on the other hand, illustrates to what extent this ‘floating signifier’ is not so much imposed on an existing pilgrimage, as used in a creative way to constitute new expressions to ancient models of pilgrimage. How this process was initiated and further negotiated, is the core question that shall be tackled after a brief introduction of the Spanish context and the main protagonists.

3. The Collective Pilgrimage in El Rocío and the Brotherhoods of Almonte and Brussels El Rocío is situated in Huelva, the most western province of Andalusia. It is part of the village of Almonte, and located about 60 km to the southwest of the city of Seville. Bordering the marshlands of the Guadalquivir

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Frey, Pilgrims Stories, 250. The orchestrated way in which the pilgrimage became further one promoted for its unifying potential is illustrated by the citation which Frey gives of the Spanish secretary general of the Council of Europe, on the occasion of congress in 1988: “One could hardly find a phenomenon closer to the very essence of the Europe we wish to build than this pilgrimage movement, whose routes, above and beyond the religious dimension,…, have remained a meeting place, a medium of exchange, a means of communication and a source of solidarity which is the basis and origin of our own identity.” (Frey, Pilgrims Stories, 250).

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river, this deserted place looks at first more like a Far West town from a fancy Hollywood movie than a pilgrimage site. But once a year, in a week that ends with a procession on Whit Monday, this fairly isolated place changes into a busy town where thousands of pilgrims and tourists celebrate la Romería del Rocío in a fascinating mix of joy and devotion. Romerías are probably one of the most colourful, joyful and emblematic expressions of popular religion in Southern Spain. These yearly celebrations, which are held mostly in springtime, honour the Patron Saint or the Virgin Mary, la Virgen, of a village. For that reason, a collective pilgrimage or camino is organised, to the chapel where the image of the saint or Virgin Mary is kept. The majority of the romerías are strictly local events, but some of them have attained a status that reaches far beyond the village frontiers. For centuries this has been the case in Andújar, in the province of Jaen, where the Virgen de las Cabezas is venerated, and the same holds true for El Rocío. The importance of the latter romería is so great and widespread that the Andalusian anthropologists Salvador Rodríguez Becerra and Isidoro Moreno Navarro do not hesitate to qualify this celebration as one of the most intense expressions of the Andalusian culture.39 The reasons for why this place has become so popular are diverse and complex. Besides its intrinsic, spectacular character, especially during the procession, when the image of the Virgin Mary is fiercely carried around by the Almontese men, it stands without any doubt that the construction of a completely new chapel in the midst of the sixties marked a major milestone.40 From then on, the expansion of the romería became obvious in the impressive amount of new houses that were built, the increase of participants which, according to some enthusiastic authors, even surpass one million,41 and, easier to quantify, 39)

Salvador Rodríguez Becerra, Religión y Fiesta: Antropología de las Creencias y Rituales en Andalucía (Sevilla: Signatura Demos, 2000); Salvador Rodríguez Becerra, La religion de los andaluces (Málaga: Sarría, 2007); Isidoro Moreno Navarro, “El Rocío: de Romería de las Marismas a fiesta de indentidad Andaluza,” in Romeriás y Peregrinaciones: Simposio de Antropoloxia X (Santiago de Compostela: Consello de Cultura Galega), 121–141. 40) Eddy Plasquy, “¡El Salto a las 02.45!: ¿Un ritual establecido o atemporal? Cambios rituals durante el inicio de la procession en honor a la virgen del Rocío,” Andul:. Revista Andaluza de Ciencias Sociales 6 (2006), 133–146; Santiago Padilla Díaz de la Serna, Rocío: La explosion de la Gran Devoción del Sur en el Siglo XX (Cordoba: Almuzara, 2007). 41) Although a precise estimation is difficult, this number is exaggerated. More realistic estimations mention several tens of thousand pilgrims, which is of course, still a huge crowd. See for example Josep María Comelles, “El Rocío en la Cultura de masas.

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the steady growth of brotherhoods—from 10 in 1900 to 40 in 1960 and 107 in 2008.42 Brotherhoods are lay organizations that foment and stimulate the devotion towards a specific saint or Virgin Mary. Traditionally, such a local brotherhood, or hermandad, is in charge of the organisation of the romería. Official brotherhoods are usually recognized by the ecclesiastical authorities, but this is not the case for all of them. And, although it is true that some have a history that goes back to the Middle Ages, the fact is that many of them have been recently created or re-created. Especially by the end of the Franco regime, when the ban on these popular expressions of devotion was lifted, organising a romería became first and foremost a way by which a village expressed its local and regional identity.43 The majority of these brotherhoods are founded in the region of Andalusia (90%) and especially within the provinces of Sevilla (40%), Huelva (22%), and Cadiz (10%). Only 9% originated elsewhere in Spain, be it in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, or even on the island of Gran Canaria. Only one brotherhood has been recognized outside of Spain, and that is ‘la Hermandad de Bruselas,’ founded as the 97th brotherhood in 2000.44 To be officially recognized by the ‘Mother Brotherhood of Almonte’ or Hermandad Matriz, implies several rights and obligations. One of these rights is that they can fully take part in all the official celebrations of the romería. On the other hand, every brotherhood is obliged to participate at the romería, to organize a yearly pilgrimage and a mass in the chapel of El Rocío, to foment the devotion at home and to spend a part of their income on charity.45

Representaciones identitarias y conflictos culturales en el nuevo milenio,” in: José Huarto Sánchez (ed.), Religiosidad Popular Sevillana (Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla y Ayuntamiento de Sevilla, 2000), 128; Plasquy, “¡El Salto a las 02.45!,” 136. 42) Michael D. Murphy & Juan Carlos González Faraco, “Massificación ritual, identidad local y toponimia en El Rocío,” Demófilo 20 (1996), 101–120; Juan Carlos González Faraco & Michael D. Murphy, “El Rocío: la evolución de una aldea sagrada,” in: Michael D. Murphy & Juan Carlos González Faraco (eds.), El Rocío: Análisis culturales e históricos (Huelva: Diputación de Huelva, 2002), 55–92. 43) Pilar Jimeno Salvatierra, Rituales de identidad revitalizados (2a edición ampliada) (Madrid: Universidad Autonoma, 2004). 44) Francisco Javier Cháves Flores, Hermandades del Rocío (Madrid: Cháves Flores, 2003). 45) Hermandad Matriz de Almonte, Reglas de la Pontificia, Real e Ilustre Hermandad Matriz de Nuestra Señora del Rocío de Almonte (Almonte: Hermandad Matriz, 1999).

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The formal constitution of the brotherhood of Brussels started in October 1996 with a General Assembly that approved the statutes and the internal rules. Before that time, the founding members were active within a Spanish choir that was based at the Foyer Catholic Européen. This Catholic Circle, situated in the basement of the Basilica of Koekelberg, serves as a place of gathering for Catholics working at the European institutions in Brussels. There, the masses are celebrated in different languages, including Spanish. At a certain point, one of the choir members introduced some songs and hymns in honour of the Virgen del Rocío in their repertoire. Enchanted by the poetic beauty of these texts, the others suggested in the winter of 1994 to transform their name in Coro Rociero de Bruselas. As such, they organised and accompanied their first Misa Rociera in the Foyer in May 1995. That year and the year after, they visited the romerías in El Rocío, and in 1996 they decided to start the procedure to become recognized by the brotherhood of Almonte as an officially affiliated brotherhood or hermandad filial. The official recognition of the brotherhood of Brussels went, according to all standards, surprisingly fast. In less than four years, all the necessary approvals were obtained. Soon after the approval of their statutes, the newly elected board conveyed them to the Archbishop of Brussels and Mechelen for the necessary endorsement. Two months later, on the 8th of December 1996, Mgr. Danneels signed the canonical approval of the brotherhood and, although it was not necessary, they even obtained a formal blessing from the Pope for the foundation of their brotherhood. Shortly afterwards, the approval of the Belgian Archbishop was communicated to the Diocese of Huelva, and from there on to the Brotherhood of Almonte. In the following years, the newly founded brotherhood, although not officially recognized as an affiliated one, participated in some official acts of the romería, thereby accompanying the brotherhood of Madrid. On the 30th of April 1999, a delegation of the brotherhood of Almonte was invited to Brussels to proclaim a homage or pregon, to celebrate the commencement of the romería. The text which was read during the celebration and afterwards published by the Hermandad Matriz, left no doubts that their integration in the official network of brotherhoods was eminent.46 In addition, it demonstrated their enthusiasm for a project that was already fomenting at that time, namely the organisation of a Camino 46)

Juan Ignacio Reales Espina, III Pregón Rociero: Hermandad de Ntra. Sra. del Rocío de Bruselas (Brussels: Hermandad de Bruselas, 1999).

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Europeo, as a new way to evangelize Europe and to strive militantly for the recognition of its Catholic heritage within the European context. In February 2000 they received from the brotherhood of Almonte the formal confirmation of their acceptance as an affiliated brotherhood. Shortly after their inclusion in the official network of brotherhoods, they were officially received by Mgr. Danneels in recognition of their endurance to serve the Catholic cause. In order to give it even more splendour, H.M. Queen Fabiola accepted the invitation to be honoured with the title of Hermana Mayor de Honor. From the start on, it was obvious that the brotherhood of Almonte was eager to integrate this symbolic location in their expanding network. The brotherhood of Brussels, conscious of the connotations of the site where they were located, took full advantage of this and integrated in an observable way their affinity with the idea of a united Europe. Their banner, or simpecado, which was made in a famous broidery house in Seville, wears the twelve, five-pointed golden stars representing the European Union on a deep blue front. The stars encircle a slightly elevated silvered composition that consists of three different elements. Firstly, a detailed figure of the Virgen del Rocío occupies the centre. Secondly, a silver rosary is depicted around the image. A cross decorates the larger part, just beneath the image. Thirdly, a detailed representation of the Arch of the Cinquantenaire, one of the most impressive landmark monuments in Brussels, decorates the upper part of the sculpture. On the back, the name of the brotherhood is embroidered as well as their affiliation number and the year in which this was decreed. A pigeon with spread wings and widening rays decorates the upper part, representing the Holy Spirit, extending his grace over the named brotherhood. The banner hangs on a silver staff decorated with a golden star with four points, representing the compass that directs the way. The composition of the official medal, which is worn by the members, is similar to the silver artwork in the centre of the simpecado. It goes with an intertwined cord in red and yellow, the colours of the Spanish flag. The presence of the Brussels brotherhood at the 2000 romería did not pass unnoticed and uncommented. It was hot news in the newspapers and several of them published extended interviews with their president, several members and the Brazilian pastor who accompanied them. The fact that they were the first affiliated brotherhood from outside of Spain was seen by many as a clear sign that the romería was definitely acquiring an international character: “El Rocío se convierte en romería internacional en el Año Jubilar 2000 con la entrada de Bruselas”—“With the joining of

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Brussels, El Rocío is converted into an international romeria in the jubilee year 2000.”47 Other commentators had more doubts and pointed at the ambiguousness of this internationalisation, as the title in El Mundo suggests: “Los romeros del euro.”48 Still others joked about their presence in El Rocío, as was the case in the commentary of Sevillian author Antonio Burgos, famous for his sharp pen: “Bruselas, en plan Romero” in which he stated that from now on, it were no longer the people of Almonte that controlled the famous Andalusian romería, but those from Brussels.49 As such, it would not come as a surprise to him if the management of the oxen which traditionally pull the adorned carts with the simpecado, would soon become the object of a European investigation. More vicious commentaries were written by Eva Díaz Pérez who in her book El polvo del Camino sarcastically commented on these well dressed cosmopolites, who come from ‘the first world’ to pass some time in this primitive and miraculous hamlet filled with indigenes, dressed in beautiful flamenco dresses.50 A lot of the confusion and exoticism that surrounded the brotherhood was due to the fact that it indeed consisted of an amalgam of individuals, of whom the majority worked in one of the European or international organisations in Brussels or who were at least connected with it. In addition, the initial group consisted of 14 different nationalities, ranging from Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland and England to Columbia, Brazil, Peru, and even Syria. This made it difficult to pinpoint the brotherhood on a solid location, something which had always been the case with the other brotherhoods. In such a context, Brussels appears first and foremost as a symbol, ‘the centre of the Old Continent’ as it was described several times. Reference to Brussels as a Belgian city hardly caught any attention. And as the Mayor of Almonte clearly stated, the presence of the brotherhood in El Rocío is first and foremost seen as a means to an end, and from his point of view, a door towards the world, an occasion to bring the village and the region in closer contact with this centre of power: “El Rocío abre una puerta al mundo con Bruselas”—“with the brotherhood of Brussels, El Rocío opens a door towards the world.”51 47)

ABC Sevilla, 10 June 2000, 40. El Mundo Andalucía. Suplemento Rocío, 10 June 2000, 1. 49) Antonio Burgos, “Bruselas, en plan Romero,” El Mundo de Andalucía, 28 April 2001. 50) Eva Díaz Pérez, El Polvo del camino: El libro maldito del Rocío (Sevilla: Signatura, 2001). 51) Diario de Andalucía. Sevilla, 17 June 2000, 12. 48)

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The members of the brotherhood of Brussels were quite conscious of their unique and at the same time ambiguous position. To counteract the fact that they were perceived as the rich and fancy folks from Europe, they profiled themselves as a quite austere and sober group. In an interview, María Louisa de la Vega, their first elected president, stated firmly that they would never strive for a silver cart to carry their simpecado but rather for a wooden one, decorated abundantly with flowers.52 Besides the rather restrained character they wanted to convey, they also insisted on the general importance of charity within the brotherhood. This intention was convincingly illustrated by the fact that more than 80% of the income of the brotherhood was dedicated to relief programs in Spain, Belgium, Russia, and Central and South America. Finally, in every interview the members insisted on their evangelical goal. Firstly, this was seen as a contribution to the divulgation of the Marian devotion beyond the Spanish frontiers. But, secondly, they wanted to conceive this in a ‘serious way,’ which is, according to them, necessary when dealing with ‘foreigners’ who are not accustomed to this Andalusian blend of dance, flamenco music and castanets, and need more time to get attuned to that peculiar atmosphere. As such, their monthly activities are first and foremost centred on a Spanish Mass and the praying of the rosary every second Saturday of the month. Afterwards, a typical ‘Andalusian’ dinner is served. However, it was clear from the start that, besides these initiatives within their circle in Brussels, their evangelical endeavour would take its most concrete form in the creation of a pilgrimage trail from Brussels to El Rocío: El Camino Europeo del Rocío.

4. El Camino Europeo del Rocío In the months following their official recognition as a brotherhood, the members officially launched the idea to organise such a camino. This was even done before their first official participation as a brotherhood to the romería in El Rocio. The press note which was released on that occasion, specified that the camino would depart from the capital of Europe, and would pass through significant Marian sanctuaries in Belgium, France, and Spain, before arriving at the chapel in El Rocío. It further stipulated that the idea consisted solely in the visiting of the different sanctuaries, 52)

Los domingos de ABC, 11 June 2000, 13.

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whether it be by car or spread over several occasions. Never did it come to the organizers minds that the trail would be actually walked. Following the example of the famous camino to Santiago de Compostela, they planned to give every person who presented himself at each of the official stages, an official Diploma de Peregrino Europeo del Rocío. A booklet to receive the stamps to prove the visits would be made available for that reason. In every sanctuary, an image of the Virgen del Rocío is to be placed, as well as a display case with paraphernalia of El Rocío. The press note ends with the remark that the camino is viewed as the most emblematic initiative that the brotherhood can undertake to give form to their intention to vigorously promote the ethical principles of Christian civilization. The camino started from the impressive basilica of Koekelberg in Brussels on the 9th of May 2000—commemoration day of Europe. In the main church, a painted ceramic picture or azulejo was hung up on the wall of a side chapel dedicated to the Virgen Mary. At a one hour drive from Brussels, the pilgrimage site of Beauraing received the pilgrims. The bishop of Namur blessed a similar azulejo, which was afterwards walled up near the entrance of the main church. For the occasion, the brotherhood of Brussels brought their simpecado and the European flag to the site. Several of the members had put on their typical rociero outfit and, while a tambour and guitar accompanied the flamenco songs, the abundant sunshine contributed to the Andalusian atmosphere. The following year, three stages were inaugurated in France: Chartres, Rocamadour and Lourdes. Each time, a Spanish brotherhood accompanied the one from Brussels. But while it were the recently founded brotherhoods of Arcos de la Frontera and Ronda that took up the role of godfather in Chartres and Rocamadour, it was the Mother brotherhood of Almonte herself which patronised the world-famous pilgrimage site of Lourdes. Together with the growing influence of the latter, the overall importance of the inaugurations increased significantly. This became even more obvious once the camino arrived on Spanish soil. From that moment on, the Almontese took control over the organisation: an internal committee was formed and they selected the pilgrimage sites to be visited as well as the participating brotherhoods. In June 2002, the 5th stage was celebrated in Zaragoza where the patron saint of Spain, the Virgen del Pilar, is venerated. The celebration was patronized by the two brotherhoods of the City of Huelva. Together with the earlier mentioned brotherhoods, there were about 600 people present for the celebration. Before the mass on Saturday morning, a

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procession was held on the main avenue leading to the basilica. Four months later, the camino arrived in Madrid. The different brotherhoods joined the one of the city, which acted as host and godfather. Besides these, three brotherhoods of the province of Jaén were present as well as ten associations from the province of Madrid. The celebration took place in the Cathedral of Almudena. Before entering the temple, a procession was held in front of the Royal Palace. The Mass was presided over by the Cardinal and Archbishop of Madrid. In the evening, almost 3,000 people joined the dinner. Shortly after the celebration in Madrid, the camino inaugurated its 7th stage in Andujár, in the Andalusian province of Jaén where the famous Virgen de las Cabezas is venerated. The brotherhoods of Jaén acted as godfathers. The same month, just after Christmas, Sevilla was the host. For that occasion, the five brotherhoods of the city set aside their internal rivalry and jointly acted as godfathers. The celebration took place around the Cathedral of Sevilla and consisted of an impressive procession in which the Sevillian brotherhoods participated with their adorned carts pulled by oxen, as is traditional during the romería. The main square along the cathedral was closed to traffic while all the brotherhoods were lined up with their simpecados and banners. Finally, on the 26th of April 2003, the Camino Europeo reached its ultimate stage in El Rocío. Under a cloudy sky, the distinct brotherhoods that had patronised the different stages gathered at the lateral entry of the sanctuary, where the bishop of Huelva blessed the ceramic to commemorate the Camino Europeo. The azulejo, which is made in light blue on a white background, consisted of an image of the Virgen del Rocío, placed above a globe on which the contours of the European continent are visible. At the bottom, two buildings appear: on the left, a representation of the city hall of Brussels and on the right, an image of the sanctuary in El Rocío. Around the image, starting from the left side upwards and further continuing downward to the right, there are depictions of the different images of the Virgin Mary, together with the sites of the pictures’ respective sanctuaries. Beneath the image of the Virgen del Rocío a text named all the different Marian representations which were visited during the camino, as well as the date of the final inauguration in El Rocío. After the blessing, the European Hymn was sung and the Angelus prayed. From there, the procession moved on to the main entrance of the chapel. When the mass ended, several announcements were made. The secretary of the brotherhood of Almonte read a text in name of all the

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brotherhoods: the Manifiesto del Movimiento Mariano Rociero. This manifesto, in pro of the Christian identity of Europe, proclaimed first and foremost that the origins of Europe are based and rooted in the Christian faith and the Christian values of peace, justice and solidarity. As a consequence, the text states that it needs to be recognized as such within the text of the new Constitution of Europe which is under redaction. Secondly, the manifest explicitly formulates the intention of the brotherhood of Almonte, the 100 official brotherhoods and all those who conform with them, to strive for a new evangelization of Europe and the world beyond it. Hereby, they responded to the invitation that was given by the Pope in the year 2000.53 The Almontese brotherhood had set up a huge publicity campaign with posters and leaflets in the village in order to attract as many people as possible to the inauguration of the camino. Besides this local promotion, they had summoned up all the brotherhoods to be present at the celebration with a delegation. And according to one of their publications this was indeed the case.54 However, although they were present, it was obvious that neither the people of Almonte nor the pilgrims from further away, were really interested in the fact that the Camino Europeo was completed. The several large screens that where put up outside the chapel to transmit the mass to the expected thousands of participants, were not attended to at all. And the restaurant holder who seriously thought that the event would attract huge amounts of tourists—as is the case for the annual romería— looked quite desperately at the pile of meat he had bought for this occasion. So, the glorious day ended on a quite ambiguous note. On the one hand, a chapel filled with a loaded rhetoric to evangelize Europe and on the other hand, an empty esplanade where the sand whirled up in the wind coming from the nearby marchlands. A few days later, I asked some Almontese friends why they did not show up for the inauguration. The men laughed and said that it was sufficient that the brotherhood had been there. For them it was not such a big deal. Every week something like this happens in El Rocío, and if not, added one, you can bet on it that they will invent something. For them only counted one thing: the romería at Pentecost, when they are in charge of carrying 53) Juan Ignacio Reales Espina, “Manifiesto del Movimiento Mariano Rociero en pro de la Identidad Cristiana de Europa,” in: Rocío: Boletín oficial de la Hermandad Matriz de Almonte 20 (2003), 14–16. 54) Santiago Padilla Diáz de la Serna, “Camino Europeo del Rocío. Ha roto moldes,” in: Rocío: Boletín oficial de la Hermandad Matriz de Almonte 20 (2003), 11–12.

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around the image in a tumultuous procession. Everything else is of secondary importance. The next couple of years, no new initiatives were taken to promote the Camino Europeo. While other extraordinary celebrations in El Rocío caught all the attention, the prestigious initiative moved to the background. Apart from the yearly commemoration in April, when the brotherhood of Almonte dedicates a mass to the Camino Europeo, neither the planned ‘diploma’ nor the booklet were printed. In the sites of Rocamadour and Andújar, the ceramics were taken away, only to be shown to the public when asked for. No display case was installed in any of the sites. As such, it came almost as a surprise to read in a local newspaper that a group of ten brave pilgrims from the province of Huelva left from Brussels with the intention to walk the whole trail of the Camino Europeo to El Rocío.55 5. El Camino Europeo del Rocío a pie After two years of preparations, during which they figured out the trail using the internet, the pilgrims unrolled their small banner in Brussels and started to walk. All were members of one of the two brotherhoods of Huelva, but the thing that really brought them together was their active membership in a small neighbourhood association, la Cruz del Este, dedicated to one of the numerous Cruzes de Mayo, another famous example of popular religion in Spain. The group consisted of five men and five women. Except for one woman, all were at least in their fifties. None of them had ever visited Brussels, Belgium or France. Nine of them had no special walking expertise and none had prepared for the journey in any special way. Their sole walking experience was the annual camino they walked with their brotherhood from Huelva to El Rocío, a trip of about 50 km, covered in three days. Only one of them had an extended knowledge of either walking or doing a pilgrimage on foot. Antonio Álvares Rafael had completed the camino to Santiago de Compostela in 2004 from the City of Huelva, the so called Ruta de la Plata. Encouraged by the experience of this trip, the retired doctor launched the idea to tackle an even huger project: to walk from Brussels to El Rocío and to open up a whole new pilgrimage trail that way. 55)

“Los peregrinos de Bruselas parten para hacer el camino europeo a pie,” in: Odiel Información, July 5, 2007.

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They started with the full support of the bishop and the mayor of Huelva but neither the brotherhood of Almonte nor any of the brotherhoods of Huelva could be convinced to back up their dream. Only the Brussels brotherhood helped them, giving logistic and a little financial support. Further small sponsoring came from the University of Huelva, the City council and several local shops and companies. On 4 July they started their journey from the basilica of Koekelberg in Brussels. Equipped with paint, they marked their way with green arrows and white templates of a pigeon, as the symbol of the Holy Ghost, together with the name ‘Rocío.’ Stamps from the different places they passed through were put in a small booklet, especially made for that occasion. Grounded in the ancient tradition of pilgrims, they relied on the hospitality of the people they met. Their budget did not allow for hotel stays. To find a free place to sleep they relied on two assistants from Huelva who tried to make contact with the mayor or pastor of the villages they were heading for. As such, they slept in monasteries, small accommodations offered by the local priest or villagers and even in the luxurious environment of a castle. Only in Paris did they sleep in a cheap highway motel, paid for by the contribution of the brotherhood of Brussels. During the whole journey, a small van accompanied them to carry their food and gear. And when they could not find a place to spend the night, the travellers looked for a spot and asked permission to put up their tents. At every pilgrimage site of the Camino Europeo, the pilgrims were received with a celebration. Apart from a small feast, these celebrations basically consisted of a mass in the sanctuary, the praying of the rosary and the singing of some typical rociera songs. At several places the receptions turned into real events in which the pilgrims where truly honoured. In Lourdes, for example, they were invited to occupy a central front place in the cathedral during the mass and were accompanied afterwards by all the present ecclesiastics towards the ‘Marvellous Cave.’ In Madrid, all the brotherhoods of the region awaited them in the Cathedral and some of them even accompanied them during their trip toward the City. When they finally arrived in El Rocío, a special mass was organised by the brotherhood of Brussels. Before this celebration, they kneeled in front of the altar and placed their bundle of maps and paint at the feet of the Virgin Mary. It was a final gesture to indicate that they had accomplished their mission: the trail was marked. To the celebrating bishop of Huelva they handed the dozens of medals they had received from the different

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brotherhoods they had met during their journey, a symbolic gesture in recognition of the support they had received from them. But neither the Brotherhood of Almonte nor the ones of Huelva officially participated in this celebration. For the pilgrims this was quite disappointing, but it did not come as a surprise. From the beginning it was clear that their conception of the Camino Europeo was different from that of the brotherhoods of Brussels and Almonte. Where the initial idea of the first one was to unite different sanctuaries, it was obvious that, once the brotherhood of Almonte took over control, it became first and foremost a prestigious project. The focus of the walking pilgrims on the other hand, was nothing more, but also nothing less, than to open up a truly new pilgrimage trail from the symbolic centre of Europe towards the shrine in El Rocío. The trouble with this trail, however, was that the pilgrims incorporated two new stages and left out two already recognized. New were Cáceres in the region of Extramadura, where the Virgen de Guadalupe is venerated, and the City of Huelva, which honours the Virgen de La Cinta. The consequence of this choice was that after Madrid, the sites of Andújar and Sevilla were not visited. This decision did not come out of the blue. The fact that Huelva was neglected in the initial Camino Europeo has been incomprehensible to several commentators, especially because Almonte is part of this province. And given the rivalry between the two provinces, it was perceived almost as an insult. Their choice was nothing less than a (mild) protest and a pledge in favour of an alternative route that respected the local interests. When they arrived in Cáceres and Huelva, a huge celebration was organised with the support of the different bishops. The brotherhood of Almonte did not show up, although it was invited, and neither did it recognize the two sites as part of the ‘official’ Camino Europeo afterwards. The support of the brotherhood of Brussels is comprehensible because they still remembered the fact that the Mother Brotherhood had taken over their idea and truly had some sympathy and respect for these curious wanderers. The brotherhoods of Huelva on the other hand were more compromised, given their long-standing relationship with the Almontese brotherhood, and chose not to get involved in the matter. So, the story thus far ends with two trails: the Camino Europeo del Rocío and the Camino Europeo del Rocío a pie. The first one to visit by car, the other to walk; one overloaded with ceremonial paraphernalia, the other

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created in a humble way; one with the focus on international prestige, the other rooted in local interests. At present, both are making plans to expand their vision. The Almontese are planning to integrate new pilgrimage sites in Asturias and Portugal and to extend the network of connected Marian shrines throughout Europe.56 The pilgrims from la Cruz del Este are organizing a walking week in October from the Northern border of the province of Huelva to El Rocío, thereby reinforcing their claim that the trail needs to pass through their province. They also plan the publication of a book in which their numerous adventures will be documented. Their endeavour is also picked up by the ecclesiastical world. In October 2007, a theological conference in Asturias already commented on their journey and its significance in the construction of a new ecclesiastical community.57 6. Conclusions In the introduction I referred to Abélès and his suggestion to view the European Community as a floating signifier in order to “allow symbolic thoughts to operate despite the contradiction inherent in it.”58 This evolving story illustrates how vague and ephemeral ideas about ‘Europe’ can indeed become cornerstones for new interpretations of centuries-old traditions and institutions, such as pilgrimages and brotherhoods. For all involved, Brussels stood as a crucial geographical centre of this ‘Europe’ and this symbolic value can hardly be overestimated. The brotherhood of Brussels disconnected the site from its territory and turned it into an abstract geographical reference, only to justify their existence as ‘New Europeans’ during the romería. The symbolism used and their actual presence there, made that this ‘European Brussels’ suddenly became very real for the other participants and spectators. For the expansionist

56)

On 27 September 2009, the Sanctuary of La Cinta in Huelva was officially inaugurated by the brotherhood of Almonte. See: Huelva Información, 28 September 2009. This new initiative, together with some recent contacts between the president of mother brotherhood and the pilgrims from Huelva, indicate that a formal and official recognition of their endeavor might be eminent in the near future (Rocío Alfonso Iglesias, personal communication, 9 December 2008). 57) Carmen García Rodríguez, “La Peregrinación, caminos para construir la communion eclesial,” paper presented at: X Encuentro de Santuarios de España (Sanctuario Ntra. Sra. De Covadonga, Asturias, October 23–25, 2007). 58) Abéles in: Bellier & Wilson (eds.), An Anthropology of the European Union, 42.

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brotherhood of Almonte it even created the illusion that they could address this ‘Europe’ as a whole. The creation of the two variants of the Camino Europeo del Rocío, illustrates to what extent new ideas about ‘Europe’ are coming to the fore in the Catholic endeavour to ‘re-’sacralize this ‘new’ territory. It is clear that this evangelical mission was not only fundamental for the ‘official’ Camino, as it was stated in the declared Manifest of the brotherhoods, but it also functioned as the ultimate goal of the pilgrims from Huelva. They, too, started with a clear evangelizing mission and could therefore count on full ecclesiastical support. The explicit and subtle power struggles which are revealed when looking more closely at the way in which both caminos came into existence, look like a good example of the way that, according to Eade and Sallnow, the ‘sacred’ is contested.59 However, at the same time, the manner in which the idea of ‘Europe’ is imagined and integrated in these ancient models of pilgrimages, is clearly shot through and fuelled with political and ideological agendas that are grounded in these same centuries-old traditions and institutions. As such, it seems to be more appropriate also to approach the pilgrimage itself as a floating signifier, instead of a void vessel, only capable of reflecting back objectified assumptions. Finally, when the attention is drawn to the meaning of Brussels in this whole story, it is worth recalling our argument that the symbolic space which a pilgrim creates when embarking on a pilgrimage, depends not only on his conception of the sacredness of the pilgrimage site that he or she is heading to, but also of the significance that he or she attributes to the site of departure (home, village, country, diasporas). The main reason for this is that it is precisely the affective tension which is generated between these two poles, that gives the journey towards the sacred site its special connotation.60 As such, this crucial element distinguishes it from a mere trip, regardless of how adventurous or rewarding the latter might be. For the creators of the Camino Europeo this affective tension was clearly present. It was established between, on the one hand, El Rocío, as a privileged

59)

Eade & Sallnow, Contesting the Sacred. This idea underscores Kim Knott’s approach toward sacred space and the way how it emerges as a result of spatial practices. For Knott, sacred space is not the solely stimulus for ritual, because, at the same time, ritual, as a sacred-making behaviour, brings about ‘sacred’ space. As such, “ritual takes place, and makes place” (Knott, The Location of Religion, 43). In our case, this sacralisation is realized throughout a ritualized way of moving between the aforementioned poles. 60)

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location to underpin a renewed Marian doctrine, and on the other hand, Brussels, conceived as the centre of an expanding Europe—a Europe, which, in their terms, also redefined them as ‘new Europeans.’ However, despite the splendour which characterized the inauguration, both conditions rest on fragile assumptions. This became painfully clear in the lack of interest by the Almontese locals. Brought to a more abstract level at least two difficulties seem to be involved. In the first place, it remains an open question to what extent El Rocío is indeed spearheading a renewed Marianism, especially when its fame is largely related to the yearly, spectacular, emblematic and festive romería. Secondly, it goes without any doubt that the project of ‘Europe’ is far from finished and thus largely ‘under construction.’ This being the case, the way in which it is treated has far more to do with an anticipated future than with an actual reality. These remarks are not intended to doubt the possible future of the established Camino. As was stated before, the intentions with which a pilgrim embarks on a pilgrimage and the way in which he/she delineates his/ her symbolic space can vary significantly. As such, the mere existence of the trail might inspire folks to set of for a journey of more than three months to come to terms with themselves. However, it is only when a growing number of pilgrims are willing to share the future and the imagination of the founders of the Camino Europeo that it becomes meaningful to conceive Brussels as the true and legitimate site to embark on a ‘European’ pilgrimage towards El Rocío. References Abéles, Marc, “Virtual Europe,” in: Irène Bellier & Thomas M. Wilson (eds.), An Anthropology of the European Union: Building, Imagining and Experiencing the New Europe (Oxford: Berg, 2000), 31–52. Bellier, Irène & Wilson, Thomas M., “Building, Imagining and Experiencing Europe: Institutions and Identities in the European Union,” in: Irène Bellier & Thomas M. Wilson (eds.), An Anthropology of the European Union: Building, Imagining and Experiencing the New Europe (Oxford: Berg, 2000), 1–30. Blasi, Anthony, “Visitation to Disaster Sites,” in: William H. Swatos & Luigi Tomasi (eds.), From Medieval Pilgrimage to Religious Tourism (Westport: Praeger, 2002). Cháves Flores, Francisco Javier, Hermandades del Rocío (Madrid: Cháves Flores, 2003). Coleman, Simon & John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Past and Present in the World Religions (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995).

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