Dr. Gerard Pool writes:

"The Sala Rocieras are a direct response to the flourishing celebration throughout Spain, and especially Andalusia, of the romeria (pilgrimage), of the "Virgen del Rocio." Each year, eight weeks after Pentacost, up to 250,000 people make their way to the little town of El Rocio, to pay homage to the "Blanca Paloma," as the Virgen del Rocio is also known. The people go by horseback, by wagon trains,and by especially made mobile homes called "Caretas," which are pulled by tractors."
"The only way to go El Rocio for the Romeria is to be a member or guest of one of the one-hundred brotherhoods or "Hermandades" scattered throughout Spain whose sole purpose is to organize their part in the pilgrimage. Many of these brotherhoods are over three hundred years old. Each brotherhood will be composed of hundreds of pilgrims and involve hundreds, even thousands of animals, such as horses, mules, cows and oxen, not to mention the food they must bring with them, the wagons or carretas they will sleep in, and of course, the manzanilla and beer they will drink! In Andalusian Catholicism, there is a place in theirr devotion and worship for wine, dance and song."
"Which brings us back to the Sala Rocieras. As one can imagine, the logistics involved in preparing for the romeria is, for each Hermandad, enormous. The work goes on all year. All the symbolic stops with their ceremonies, the food for the livestock, the campgrounds, etc. have to be planned to the most minute detail. For many Rocieros, the Rocio becomes, as Flamenco to many Flamencos, "A way of life." No sooner have they finished one Romeria, that they are planning the next. To do the planning, most Hermandades have a meeting hall, be it a local bar owned by a member, a space in a local parish, or a hall especially reserved, or more oftern, owned by the Hermandad. At the meetings, which go on all year long, they not only plan logistics and socialize, but they practice their singing and dancing from the enormous repertoire of Sevillanas and Fandangos Rocieros. It is actually quite amazing when one realizes what a large precentage of the entire repertoire of Sevillanas and Fandangos refer to the Rocio. In fact, throughout Andalusia, almost every record store will have not only ia section reserved for Sevillanas, but within the Sevillanas secition there is a large space devoted to Rociero recordings. Many new Sevillanas Rocieros are composed each year, and often performed for the first time at the local Sala Rociera to which the composers and performers belong."
"Although Sevillanas by far dominate the music of the Rocio, there is also a body of beautiful songs to the Virgin called "Salve Maria's." Each Hermandad will sing the Salve Maria they prefer, and will sing this particular one at each mass along the pilgrimage, and at each important stop along the highly symbolic journey. Like the Sevillanas, and the Fandangos, these Salve Maria's are also being newly composed and find their way into the popular Andalusian culture. At this time the very popular Salve Maria "del Ole y Ole" can be heard throughout Spain."
"But each Hermandad had to begin somewhere, and often they started out as associations of people who had been to, or wanted to go to, the Rocio. At the Sala Rocieras people come together to dance Sevillanas, Fandangos, and even Rumbas, as well as to learn the newest compostions and styles, or to present their own compositions."
"But there are Sala Rocieras, and Coros (choruses) Rocieras, from as far away as Santiago de Chile and even Belgium, so why not Washington Dc? Which brings us to this coming Friday with Edwin Aparicio at the Mediterranean Cafe in Georgetown. Be there. Sevillanas is its own musical culture, parallel and even overlapping, but distinct nonetheless from Flamenco. To the non-Spaniard Flamencos of Washington DC, Edwin's Sala Rociera will afford a new appreciation of the Sevillanas."
Thanks Gerard! There will be a test on this later. :) In the meantime, come out this Friday and have some flamenco fun!