Our Mini Pilgrimage

Today we took a train from Vilagarcia, where Sila was tied to a dock, to Santiago de Compostela and its beautiful cathedral. Part of the reason I liked the day was we stopped many times for lunch and for snacks. We also looked in many stores, buying presents for my birthday and for daddy's, which is right after mine. We also got more baskets and other things we thought we needed on Sila. The coolest shop was easily a place where you can pay to walk into a room; pose for a few minutes while a machine scans you. A tiny 3D model, that shows the crinkles on someone's shirt, is then made. The models on display were amazing. We decided not to do it even though it looked so cool.

People used to walk to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela to get a year of sins forgiven. Once the Pope announced this in the 11^th century, one thousand years ago, pilgrims began the long trek from all over the world. People still do the pilgrimage but now for different reasons. Some do it to continue a tradition, others do it for fun, or to challenge themselves, for pride, and others do it for religious reasons.

When we entered the cathedral, the very first thing I noticed was a huge silver vase hanging from the rafters. It is for burning incense, to remove the smell of people who had been walking for days. People used to sleep and cook in the cathedral when they arrived at the end of their pilgrimage. Obviously now they do not stay in the cathedral so there are fewer smells to be hidden. A group of priests could pull a rope that went to the rafters and back down to the vase to make it swing to distribute the smell of the incense. Sadly it was not burning when we got there. 

As we left the cathedral, I noticed six colorful statues. After a moment of looking, I realized that the statues were not statues, but they were people standing very still for up to thirty minutes at a time. Their costumes were brightly colored so they did not fit in with all the old stone buildings. This was part of how I realized they were people. My first favorite was a man wearing a big orange cloak, and a shell necklace. In his left hand he held a long staff, in his right he held a bell that he rang when someone gave him a coin. My next favorite was a child covered in blue except for her dress which was a rainbow. Throughout the day seeing these street performers, that performed something I had never seen before, was my highlight of the day.

-Porter