A small Spanish village known as Santa Marta de Ribarteme near the border with Portugal hosted its annual Festival of Near-Death Experiences on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTA small Spanish village known as Santa Marta de Ribarteme near the border with Portugal hosted its annual Festival of Near-Death Experiences on Sunday.
The annual ritual is said to be a pilgrimage of Santa Marta, the patron saint of resurrection--hundreds of participants give thanks or ask for relief from ailments.
People who have faced near-death experiences in the past year offer themselves in open coffins, which others in attendance carry. The parade goes through the village with statues or wax figurines of Santa Marta.
The first references to this tradition date back to the 18th century.