E-Paper
Las Mayas: Here’s how Spain welcomes spring with flowers and plants
1 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Maya girl Irene Garcia Sieteiglesias, 8, sits at an altar during Las Mayas festivity in Madrid, Spain, May 8, 2016. (REUTERS)
2 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Las Mayas festival is held annually at the beginning of May to celebrate the awakening of nature in Spring. Maya assistant girls offer carnations in exchange for coins during the festivity. (REUTERS)
3 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Young girls are chosen to become Mayas and sit at altars decorated with flowers so that people can admire them. Maya girl Lucia Carrillo, 12, leaves the altar for another Maya during Las Mayas festivity. (REUTERS)
4 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
The Mayas are dressed in traditional costumes, often displaying shawls and a wreath of flowers on their heads. Maya assistant girl Lara Ibarra, 12, wears a medallion of the Virgin. (REUTERS)
5 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Musicians sing their praises and tell about their beauty while people dance and Maya girl assistants request money in exchange for sweets and flowers. Maya girls and their assistants look at musicians playing at San Lorenzo church during Las Mayas festivity. (REUTERS)
6 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
After spending a couple of hours sitting still at the altars, the Mayas and their assistants carry out a floral offering to the Virgin at San Lorenzo Church. Maya girls sit at an altar. (REUTERS)
7 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Las Mayas tradition is said to have its origins in a pagan ritual dating back to the Roman times, when the earth goddess Maia was worshipped to welcome the arrival of the Spring. Maya girls and their assistants are led in a dance by a woman during the festival. (REUTERS)
8 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
The tradition got lost over time, but it returned in the mid-eighties. Maya girl Sara Prieto Aparicio, 9, sits at an altar. (REUTERS)
9 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
This year the rain forced the Mayas to share an altar indoors, after the ones built on the streets got too wet. Maya girl Ines de la Paloma, 9, (L), sits with her friend Nuria Sanchez Caballero, 6, at an altar. (REUTERS)
10 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Maya assistants sit at San Lorenzo church. (REUTERS)
11 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST
Marina Guerrero, 10, gets dressed to become a Maya for the festival. (REUTERS)
12 / 12
View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on May 12, 2016 07:40 am IST