Tuesday, March 24 - Mass at the Cathedral

At 11:00 a.m. today, our group set out for the "Pilgrims' Mass" at the Cathedral, celebrating the end of pilgrimage on "El Camino de Santiago" for people from all over Europe, Latin America, and from the United States -- Naperville Cental!










Rachel Romero (below, left), joined Rosalía de Castro student Andrea García Lemos to read the Invocation during the service.  Rachel's father is from Galicia, and we know this was a proud moment as she represented all of us from Naperville Central in expressing our hopes for a future with young people building bridges across languages and cultures.  Although not everyone from Santiago is a practicing Roman Catholic, the Cathedral and its associated history, art, architecture, and ritual are a large part of their culture and community identity.

At the end of the service, eight men pulled ropes to swing the Botafumeiro, or giant incense burner, from one end of each Cathedral transept to the other.  Although the incense represents purification and prayers rising to heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, our tour guide on the previous day had also told us that in the Middle Ages, it served to eliminate the odor of the many pilgrims who regularly crowded the Cathedral.

Feel free to watch my shaky video of the Botafumeiro -- sorry if it makes you a little motion-sick!