The people of Almonte have jumped over the gate at 2:55 a.m., taking over the Virgen del RocÃo pass and starting a long-awaited procession after last year it had to be suspended a few hours after its start due to the breakage of the pass .
On this occasion, this ‘jump’ has taken place without waiting, as has been traditional in recent years, for the Simpecado of the Almonte Mother Brotherhood to cross the door of the Sanctuary of the Virgen del RocÃo from the prayer of the Holy Rosary for the streets of the village.
This fact has motivated the beginning of the procession to have been a little different because those who have accessed where the Virgin was located have surrounded the passage and have waited for about 10 minutes for her arrival, which was after suspending the passage of the brotherhoods that They remained to pass through the doors of the hermitage in their participation in that Holy Rosary.
At the moment in which the insignia has been placed face to face before the image, they have proceeded to lower it from the presbytery to reach the central nave of the hermitage encouraged by the cheers and clapping of those present and the pealing of the bells of the belfry of the temple.
The ‘jump’ took place 17 minutes before the last pilgrimage of 2022, which was at 3:12, although the start was one of the longest in memory since more than 20 minutes had to pass so that, on the shoulders of the people of Almonte, the passage of the Virgin, which debuts a fully mechanized internal structure, without welding, made of carbon fiber and aeronautical aluminum, would reach the height of the Sanctuary portico to exit onto the front esplanade of the same in which thousands of faithful were waiting for her.
After leaving the hermitage, he has gone, as is traditional, to his left side to start visiting his 127 filial brotherhoods.
The procession is developing normally and a little slower than usual. In this way, the passage through El Real, where he has visited such outstanding points as the house of the Chambermaids and brotherhoods as old as Huelva or Triana, has concluded at around 8:45 a.m. From there she has headed for Almonte street to head towards El Eucaliptal, where the bulk of corporations await her.
The White Dove will continue to walk the streets of the village until approximately noon, although there is no exact time of entry.
Monsignor Bernardito Cleopas Auza, Nuncio of His Holiness in Spain, has attended these first moments of the procession, together with the Bishop of Huelva, Santiago Gómez, from what is known as the Pope’s balcony, the one from which 30 years ago this 2023 the Saint John Paul II addressed the sprinklers.
For many it will be the first time since 2019 that they will see the Virgin in procession through the streets of the village, since last year’s suspension that prevented many brotherhoods from receiving her visit and many devotees from seeing her on the street came after two years of suspension of the pilgrimage due to the pandemic.
For the occasion, the Blanca Paloma wears the costume of the brotherhoods, also known as “of the Apostles”, restored in 2021 at the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage, with the patronage of the Vela Vela family.
The floral decoration, made by Mamé de la Vega, consists of preserved white and yellow roses and gerberas, alluding to the 30th anniversary of the visit of Saint John Paul II to El RocÃo, accompanied by small bouquets of paniculata in green and white tones; the central part of the gerberas have been dyed black, as a reference to the deceased rocieros.
