Romería 1982 - festivities at the Santuario

In 1982 the American social anthropologist Jerome Mintz, who spent a lot of time in this part of the world, made this short film at the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Santos during the festivities of the Romería (pilgrimage).  It is subtitled in English and gives us a real flavour of the event - dancing, singing, families picnicking in the olive groves, drinking sherry and making the famous gazpacho caliente in a huge wooden bowl (which was, it seems, once used to wash small children in).

The most fascinating aspect for me is that, apart from the clothes and the cars, it is all pretty much the same today.  The Romería in September and the Fiesta de San Jorge in April are when the alcalaínos and alcalaínas let their hair down.  May that never change.