The Romería to the Sanctuary of the Virgen del Caólic in Andorra

It’s hard to know exactly how long romerias have been going on, but, for example, the romeria in Garachico is known to have been taking place since the 17th century, as it was first held to give things to San Roque for helping the village through a plague epidemic.

A romeria in Tenerife, just like all the best traditional celebrations, is the result of a hotchpotch of Christian and pagan beliefs. It’s essentially a mix between a harvest festival and a religious pilgrimage, and any kind of pilgrimage will always involve a walk, however short.Romerias in Tenerife are held all over the island during the year to honour the village’s local saint, to whom the success of the harvest is attributed.

Andalucia is famous for its pilgrimages or "romerías" - so called because pilgrims traditionally walked to Rome, and therefore became known as "romeros" - to popular shrines, around which fiestas are held.

Many towns celebrate their romeria on their saint's day at a local shrine a few miles away - it is a day in the countryside visiting a chapel or a sanctuary. Interestingly it is one of the few fiestas that is celebrated outside the nucleus of the town. The sanctuary is a physical and a spiritual point of reference.

The departure from the town for the sanctuary is a proud public ceremony with all the necessary elements in a certain order. Flags and standards carried are by horsemen, decorated carts, men or women who are serving a penance, then tractors, lorries and all sorts of agricultural vehicles. The municipal band usually provides the music. Firework rockets advise those afar that the romeria has begun.