Since 2014 Spanish photographer Daniel Ochoa de Olza has been portraying the girl participants in a spring festival held in Colmenar Viejo outside Madrid. His portraits bear witness to his fascination with the enduring nature of Spain’s rituals
With obscure origins in pagan customs and dating back to medieval times, the festivities of La Maya offers a strange and colourful spectacle celebrating the arrival of spring. Every year on 2 May the families of girls aged between seven and 11 gather to decide which of them will be chosen to be that year’s “Mayas”.
Lucia Corrales Alfonso
