black madonna, pilgrims and stone cairns

[Xosé Manuel Alvariño]

Somebody correct me, but...isn't Our Lady of Covadonga, in Asturias, "morena?"

Xosé Manuel


In a message dated 2/7/2003 9:30:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, maurasantangeloaSTNY.RR.COM writes:

> > I live in Australia, a practising buddhist with
> > a catholic background. In my planning and preparation, the "less is
> > more"
> > approach shines bright. It is this and the diversity of mind(s) on this
> > list, so far that I am enjoying on the road already...
> Dear Helen from Australia,
>
> About the Black madonna, I am familiar with one in Loreto Italy
> (pilgrimage site in the Marche near the city of Ancona on the Adriatic
> coast) having been there as a child, but I also found more on:
> www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm.html#tab
>
> Like you, I am a practicing Buddhist and just completed the pilgrimage
> to Mount Kailash and lake Manasarovar in Tibet.   Some tibetan pilgrims
> went around the mountain (32 miles, and over a 19000 ft pass) by doing
> full body prostrations.  They were an example on how to travel light.
> They carried only what they wore and what food they had they carried in
> their coats.  They slept wherever they stopped near the trail, never
> seemed to tire and were ready to spare smiles and encouragement
> throughout.   Reminded me of stories of medieval pilgrims doing
> pilgrimages  by genuflecting, or genuflecting going up stairs in sacred
> places.
>
> In previous messages on this lisserv there has been mention of leaving
> stones at one site on the camino.  There is a tradition throughout the
> Himalayas in which people leave a small stone on top of cairns at
> different places along routes.  Some say that it is a wish to return,
> some say that it is an offering to the spirit of the place.  these
> types of stone cairns are to be found all along trials in the Himalayan
> region.  perhaps it is nothing more than trail marker maintenance.
> In any case at the end of the Kailash pilgrimage many pilgrims who had
> prostrated the whole way had left the leather aprons and wooden mitten
> they had used while prostrating at the cairns in the last few miles of
> the trail.  It seems analogous to the burning of the clothes of
> pilgrims at the end of the camino.
>
> I would be interested in hearing about similar cross
> cultural
> pilgrimage stories, if anyone has any tp share.
>
> Maura