ABSTRACT
The Spanish Civil War was a dramatic and eminently choral event, a Greek tragedy with the constant presence of the people among its main protagonists. Four offerings were celebrated during the civil war on the occasion of the two great feast days: St. James the Great on 25 July and the translation of the saint on 30 December. However the Civil War prompted Catholic pilgrimages and surprisingly, the nationalist government both supported and also actively arranged unexpected forms, such as the organization of pilgrimages to Mecca in the Spanish area of Morocco. The organization of pilgrimages to Mecca is notable among a number of actions in support of Moroccan Muslims some of them viewed rather unenthusiastically by Spanish religious authorities such as the programmes to construct new mosques. The post-war repression and the anti-Franco resistance movement have, especially over recent years, built cenotaphs and routes, which are giving rise to alternative or directly political pilgrimages.
