Emotions in Santiago (Fr 11 Oct)

We wrote earlier that we hadn't experienced a flood of emotions arriving in Santiago.  It may have been partly due to finishing a multi-week journey - a bit of a let down feeling, your body running on adrenaline for the past while, then it finally catches up to you, and you feel drained, a bit like this fellow:

Gradually, the emotions built as we reunited with Camino friends, shook hands and hugged.  Everything and everyone seemed to come together at the 7:30 pm Mass on Friday, our last night in Santiago.  Most people we'd talked to were planning to be there, partly because of the rumour that the giant incense burner, the botafumeria, would be swung during the Mass.  More on that later.

We got there early, at 6 o'clock and took a second row seat, then just sat for the next hour and a half, mostly in silence, reflecting on our journey, also watching people stream in, find a seat or friends they hadn't seen in a while.  Hundreds stood along the side.  Two security guards kept ssshhhing the crowd and made announcements about silence and no cameras during mass.

Then, the candles near the altar were lit, the lights raised and a Sister came to the microphone and led us in rehearsing a couple pieces, notably "Salve Regina".  She had a beautiful voice and the sound of everyone singing was amazing.  Next four or five priests entered and one welcomed the people and pilgrims, then read off the starting points and nationality of all the pilgrims registered that day, "St Jean Pied de Port, Allemane, Canada,.. ;Lisbon, Italian, Estados Unidos, etc" all in Spanish.  He introduced the other priests, who each offered a welcome in a different language (English, Italian).  The Mass proceeded and it's becoming easier to follow.  Then the "Salve Regina" during the psalm and Jan and I found that to be very emotional -- I wiped tears from my eyes.  At this point, I was wondering how I'd react if the botafumeiro were to be lit and swung.    Which it was, after the Eucharist, just before the dismissal.

It was such a spectacle that it was like being in a circus tent, with a trapeze artist performing.  I'm not saying that in a bad way, just that the awe of the spectacle overrode any emotions.  

The botafumeiro is huge: 1.6 metres high and weighs 80 kg.  According to one source, it was originally used, and so large, to mask the stench of hundreds of pilgrims who had toiled and sweated for weeks to get there.  Nowadays, daily showers and washing of clothes have mostly taken care of foul odors.

The botafumeiro hangs from the ceiling -- some six stories high -- by a long thick rope.  Forty kg of incense and charcoal are shovelled in and, while smoke billows out,  6 or so red robed attendants grasp the rope, while one starts it swinging, then in unison, they all heave it higher and each time it swings past they heave it higher again, all perfectly timed  to send it upwards in a giant arc, so that it almost touches the ceiling at each end of its swing.  When it swings back down to ground level, it's moving incredibly fast.  And everyone's eyes and neck are swinging with it.   It's absolutely incredible to watch.

Despite all the warnings, hundreds of people took pictures, with hands held outstretched, flashes flashing, bright screens glowing.  Although I was tempted to take a pic or movie, we just sat and enjoyed.   I was relieved that no one clapped at the end, but it felt like it was about to happen.  It's a unique experience and we feel so fortunate to have witnessed it.  

After mass was over, I did take a pic of the red-robed attendants with the unique ability to thrill a cathedral full of people, and reportedly only four times over the centuries did they lose control, once the botafumeiro went flying into a window, but no one has ever been injured: