ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals that the ethnographic data in, despite the highly complex and organic way in which the image is carried around, the procession is far from chaotic but surprisingly well 'organized'. Both the Almontese men and the outsiders either know the 'rough' rules or come to know them very quickly. However, the unique case in El Rocio stretches the meaning which is attributed to this movement when dealing with religious processions. While Pina-Cabral insists on the importance of directionality in romarias and Mitchell stressed the structure of the festa as a central opportunity for the laity to demonstrate their agency within a structure of correct spatiality, the opposite seems to be the case in El Rocio. Here the movement literally emerges out of the dynamic interplay around and under the elevated statue. Instead of a performance by a selected group of carriers whose individual qualities can be evaluated afterwards.
