CLASS, COMMUNITY, AND COSTUME IN AN ANDALUSIAN PILGRIMAGE

Of the various styles of clothing worn by the Spanish pilgrims, religi ous tourists, and spectators who attend the spring pilgrimage to Andal usia's popular Virgin of the Dew (La Virgen del Rocio), two class-code d costumes enjoy a special social and ritual saliency. The first is th e traditional festive dress of the region's rural elites; the second i s a stylized version of everyday clothing worn by male agricultural wo rkers. The contested meanings attributed to both modes of dress are se t out and the social significance of the declining reliability of cost ume as a marker of social class is discussed.