Really nice day on the Camino. We started early and covered the 22..5 kilometer (13.6 miles) fairly quickly arriving at our new modern hotel in A Rua by 2:00pm. It was hot but not yet blazing. We (I particularly) had lots of fun joking with the people we met along the way. We met a catholic priest from Houston, Father Vincent, who was walking with a group from his church while a second group from his church was following in a bus. He was excited for the Pilgrims Mass scheduled on Weds, the day of their planned arrival, because his group was a sponsor of the service and he was being given the honor of filling the Botafumeiro with incense.
Hannah stepped away from me concerned that I would embarrass myself when I began relating one of my favorite Catholic/Jewish themed anecdotes but I proceeded; nonetheless:
An elderly man enters one of the confessionals at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The Priest slides open the little window and the man in a thick Eastern European accent begins, “mine name is Abraham Cohen, I’m 78 years old and I’m having an affair with an 18 year old girl.” The priest says “Mr. Cohen, I hear what you are saying but why are you telling me? You’re Jewish.” To which the man replies, “I’m telling everybody.”
Hannah breathed a sigh of relief when it went over big and at his request I gave Father Vincent free license to use the anecdote at his discretion.
After checking in at the hotel, we showered and walked the additional couple kilometers into Pedrouzo for lunch. We sat a sidewalk cafe with many of the pilgrims who we had met over the past few days. For the most part they were both excited to get to Santiago and sad their Camino was coming to an end. Many said they were planning to walk on to Fisterre because the end had come so suddenly.
Tomorrow it’s 20.7 kilometers (about 14 miles) to the Cathedral in Santiago.
On the way to Santiago, we pass through Lavacolla, site of Santiago’s modern airport. In medieval times it was a wide place in the river where pilgrims were required to bathe themselves (cleanse externally) before proceeding to the Cathedral for their internal or spiritual cleansing. The name “Lavacolla” is said to be a contraction of the words “lavar” and “cuello”or “culo” meaning “wash” the “neck” or “ass” but it wasn’t enough and hence the creation and use in the 11th Century of the Botafumeiro.
Botafumeiro means “incense expeller” in Galician. It’s an enormous metal pot, standing 5 and a half feet tall and weighing almost 175 pounds, made of brass and bronze and covered in silver and filled with 40 kilos (88 lbs) of charcoal and incense. It’s hung on a large chain and suspended by a pulley system from the roof of the Cathedral. Once lit, it’s swung in a large arc of over 60 meters expelling smoke from the incense throughout the Cathedral during services. The incense not only countered the stench of the gathered masses but it was thought to act as a prophylactic to battle plague and pestilence. Its really something to see in action but no longer used at every service. I was lucky to see it last time and hope that we get to see it tomorrow. All that said, I’m going to post this along with a few pictures allowing them to articulate and it’s light out because we want to be up and walking at daybreak in the hopes of arriving in time for the noon pilgrims service.
Buen Camino
