Tearing down the Holy Door

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
On December 31, at 4:00 p.m. the Santiago Archbishop, Monsignor  Julian
Barrio, will open the Holy Door. The ancient ceremony means to symbolize the
beginning of the Holy Year and the entrance of the faithful searching forgiveness
and blessings.  As we know,  another name for the door is "Puerta del Perdon" ,
that is, Door of Forgiveness.  Before opening the door the Archbishop will
initiate the tearing down of the wall presently occupying the doorway space by
hitting a sensitive spot thereof with a very large silver hammer.  After that,
mason priests will complete the demolition whereupon the crowds waiting outside
usually rush in even before the tearing down is finished, picking up pieces
of debris as they push inside.  Throughout the years this has caused disorders
and, apparently, this is the last year that this particular act will take
place.
The Cathedral's Cabildo (administrative council) and the Dean of the church,
Manuel Calvo Tojo, have stated that this tradition needs to be done away with
since it is, essentially, meaningless.  They say that, to begin with, the
"wall" is not really a wall wall since it is placed in the doorway only a few days
before the ceremony, and is put together loosely so that it can be torn down
with ease.  (In fact, last week they were already working on it and it
appeared that a wooden frame was put inside the doorway to sustain "the wall").
Further, the Dean and the Cabildo said, tearing down the wall creates a lot of
confusion and exaggerated mayhem with dozens of people pushing on one another to
get a piece  of the torn down wall, more and more of them doing so not just
with the desire to keep a religious memento of the moment, but with the crass
purpose of collecting the wall fragments to sell them later to those who could
not get close.
While doing away with a centuries old tradition may discomfit some of the
faithful, the Dean and the Cabildo are persuaded that the ceremony is valueless,
as are the fragments of the torn down wall, since "the only thing that matters
is the recognition that opening the door is merely symbolic of opening the
door of the spirit and the heart to Christian values defined by humanity and
humility".
The Dean and the Cabildo feel sure that once the faithful see the new
work-of-art-in-bronze-and-steel new door they will recognize the futility of the
tearing-down rite.
The new door was put in exhibition last week  in one of the Cathedral's
cloisters and, let me tell you,  it is something else.
I haven't time to write about it right now, but will do so later if you are
interested.
Also...please tell me: did I post the October pilgrims' statistics?  I am
ready to post the November ones but would like to send you the October ones
first.
Warm regards,
Rosina

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