Abstract
There is a traditional ambivalence in the relationships bet ween the contents, institutions and participants of the commonly called "popular religiosity " and those of the "orthodox" or "official " religion. In the case of Andalusia, such ambivalence becomes stronger, as it offers the lowest rate of religious practise (attending mass and receiving sacraments) and the highest rate of anticlericalism in the whole Spain, and at the same time, the hig hest number of massively attended rituals surrounding religious images: pilgrimages, processions and other ceremonies.