Unrepentant 'sinners' romp in Spanish towns at Corpus Christi
It is time for the Corpus Christi celebrations in Spain.
The origins of the festivities are murky but they began sometime in the Middle Ages.
AP photographer Bernat Armangue was on assignment documenting two different celebrations in Spain, where colorful, homemade costumes and masks heighten the anarchic carnival atmosphere in the Castillian towns of Bejar and Camuñas.
In Camuñas, the origins of the festivities are murky but they began sometime in the Middle Ages. The ritual is enjoying a renaissance after being banned from 1947 to 1962 under the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, which considered them pagan and disrespectful of the Church.
In Bejar, the festivities are held to commemorate a daring raid that local legend says helped liberate their town from Muslim occupation some eight centuries ago.
Text from the AP news story, Unrepentant 'sinners' romp in Spanish town at Corpus Christi, by Bernat Armangue.
Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed.