Our Final Destination: The Cathedral of St James (Santiago) (7/8/2016)

For those of you who don't have Facebook, I post this video for you to see.

This is what Rachel posted on Facebook: Today we officially ended our Camino by attending a Pilgrim's Mass at the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela with over 1000 of our closest pilgrim (and tourist) friends. There are no words to express how cool this was to finally see in person. The last stamps have been given, the boots have been put away, the last "Buen Camino" has been said, and the sense pot has swung. What an adventure! 

We got to the cathedral very early and chose our seats (around 10:30 for a noon service). It wasn't until the incense pot was swinging that we realized how excellent our choice was! 

We knew that the Botafumeira (incense pot) is not used at every mass, and I had jokingly said I wasn't leaving until I got to see it. We knew that for sure it would be used at the Friday, 7:30 p.m. mass. And we had heard that, for a donation, it is used at other pilgrim masses. Pilgrims had told us that school trips generally included the cost of the botafumeira in their trip costs to ensure it would be used. So, chances were good that we would see it. We decided that we would attend the Friday noon mass, and if we didn't get to see the botafumeira at that service, we would go back to the evening mass.

For those of you who are not familiar with the liturgical tradition of using incense, I will attempt to explain in layman's terms. (And Eric will tell me if I've screwed it up enough to post a revision. :)

The incense (often frankincense) is placed on hot coals in the pot to create smoke. The incense rising is a symbol of our prayers ascending to heaven.

In medieval times, when pilgrims actually slept on the 2nd floor of the cathedral, the incense was used to fumigate the smelly pilgrims. :)

Here's the video she took:

In the movie "The Way", this was one of the most moving and powerful moments. And it was one of the many things we were looking forward to. Some of these things--the beginning of our journey through the woods, the Alto de Perdon (where the iron sculpture was)--met my expectations. Others--like the Cruz de Ferro (the cross where you drop your rocks)--didn't.

Experiencing the botafumeiro was the highlight of the Camino and a most powerful end to our adventure! It was more moving and awesome than the movie conveys. I didn't have a camera in my hand, so I could just watch, listen, experience. And I am so glad Rachel and Eric were filming. You will see that at some points, Rachel loses the swinging pot. That's because you have to experience the moment not through a lens and so you are tracking with your eyes and not with the camera.

I think you can see in the video, this was a full service. Pilgrim masses are daily at noon and 7:30, with 800-1000 people in attendance. We suspect there were over 1000 people with us. All pews were full and people were standing in the aisles.

We saw a report that there were 40,000 people who completed their Camino in the month of June, just to give you an idea of how many people were on the journey with us.

I'm headed back to Green Bay in a few days!

Buen Camino, Y'all!