corpus christi

CORPUS CHRISTI
‘Hey Jen’
‘Yes Dave’
‘What are all those people doing over there in their re t-shirts?’
‘Can’t see, Dave. They are behind a wall.’
‘They have sacks of stuff. Maybe they are cleaning the streets or fixing the road.’
‘Don’t know, Dave, we can look tomorrow when we go ashore.’
So tomorrow came and it was time to go and get ready for Mass at midday. Puttered in the dinghy trying not to get wet as we were in our best bib and tucker as it was Corpus Christi Day – very important day for us. When we got ashore we were a bit early so started to look around and then all the red t-shirts became self evident. Everywhere through the old part of the town there were groups of people decorating the streets. Over the last couple of days we had seen groups of women sitting in the little squares with boxes of flowers and greenery they were shredding into other boxes, but I did not have the words to ask what they were doing mutilating flowers. Now it was obvious. Patterns had been drawn on the pavement and filled in with coloured flowers. They were stunning. Further along the decorations were in some sort of coloured sand and silvery metal, further along patterns in the tiniest of crushed stones. All along the route of the Corpus Christi procession the pavement was carpeted, must have been the best part of half a mile or more. At various points along the way little later were set up and decorated, there is one in the pictures. We found out that Mass was at 7 pm followed by the procession, so after taking photos of some of the work, went back to the boat to rest up ready to come back in the evening.
Mass was amazing, especially as there was a visiting choir and the music was subtly tinged with the cadences of the local music and so very moving. Then the procession formed up ready to take the Blessed Sacrament around the town. The banners came out for the various organisations associated with the church, the local band took up position and the new communicants from last week formed up in their first communion outfits. At the rear of the children were two little angels and the world’s smallest altar boy-to-be – look for them in the photos. The procession set off down the hill from the church, a slow and dignified pace, with the band keeping everyone in slow time. This was the cue for the rocket launcher on the quayside to start letting off his rockets with amazing loud bangs. No health and safety here, just a car bootload of rockets being let of 4 at a time all the time of the procession, which took nearly 2 hours. The Blessed Sacrament was processed by the priests under the canopy, and the 6 chaps holding it up kept time by clunking the poles down on the pavement each step. Down the main street and along the flower strewn carpetway, past the little squares in the old part of town and back up the steps to the church.
There were so many people about it was hard to get any photos, so I have done the best I can. The church dates from the 13th Century with additions till the 16th century and is mostly unchanged from that time. None of the modernist asceticism here, statues everywhere and all still looked after with love and reverence. We are on one of the pilgrim routes for Santiago de Compostela so Dave was pleased to find his mate St James had a place in the church. One thing I have learned to tell people is that Dave is a bone fide pilgrim, which means a lot here, and that the hat badges are for real not a tourist copy. They are most impressed that he did the long northern route.