The Spanish Festival of the Near-Death Experience
Villagers in the tiny Galician town of As Neves, in northwest Spain, carried a record number of coffins through the streets this summer.
Pall bearers sweated under their heavy human loads. The humans in the coffins were sweating, too, because they were actually alive.
It’s an ancient procession that took on special significance this year.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.