The plot of the ballet is inspired by the pilgrimage of the Cristo del Paño de Moclín (Christ of the Cloth of Moclín) (Granada), a 2.64 by 2.21 meter rough canvas that was used, according to legend, by the soldiers of the Catholic Monarchs as a banner during the Spanish Reconquest. The church authorized its worship in 1695 but banned it between 1957 and 1971 after a priest slashed it and poured a bucket of lime on it to put an end to the frauds committed by some pilgrims taking advantage of the festivity. The painting, in fact, has undergone so many restorations that it is impossible to guess what it was originally like.