New Santiago equestrian statue and nature of Santiago

[Eyskens]

'Tigres del Norte' refers to the Northern part of Mexico.  I assume what
you call Black Bart costumes are traditional mariachi dress.
 
Jim Eyskens

-----Original Message-----
From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU] On
Behalf Of Elizabeth Boylston-Morris
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:25 PM
To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
Subject: Re: New Santiago equestrian statue and nature of Santiago


I completed my pilgrimage last Saturday and have remained in Santiago
enjoying the still ongoing St. James' day festivities.
Two other bicycle pilgrims from Scotland and I,  led by the priceless
information contained in Linda Davidson's indispensable book "The
Pilgrimage Road to Santiago", made it a point to visit the Santa Maria
del Manzano church in Castrogeriz.  Indeed, as Linda writes, a rock
outside one of he doors shows hoofprints believed to have been made by
Santiago's horse as it, and its rider, landed from a prodigious jump to
point out the place where the image of the Virgin was hidden.  The
Virgen del Manzano is believed to be impressively miraculous and
"romerias" to the church are made frequently.
In Santiago, we attended the ceremonies to celebrate the installation of
the new  equestrian statue, "Santiago a Caballo" which, Juno-like, has
two fronts facing opposite directions.
We asked a few people what the name of Santiago's horse was and although
some seemed to remember that it was Estrella ("star"), which would make
it a female horse, no one knew for sure.
We did learn that there is a riding club in Spain called  Santiago's
Horse, and we were regaled with stories of the gallantry and heroism of
El Cid's horse, Babieca, and how the horse survived the death of its
rider by two years "in profound sadness" and did so only, at El Cid's
behest, to offer comfort and solace to Dona Ximena.  We were also told
that several towns and hills were named after the horse who died on its
thirtieth birthday.
As usual, there are people from all over the globe in Santiago, but many
more so now because of the celebrations, which have an international
flavor.  Van Morrison's free concert was canceled because of rain, but
one by an Algerian star was a tremendous success.  Representing the
United States (?) was a group  called "Los Tigres del Norte"; in their
Black Bart costumes they sang in Spanish  and had a huge positive
response with attendees dancing in the street and asking for reprise
after reprise.  Today a group called "Van Gogh's Ear" is featured.  But
there are also a great many cultural and art exhibitions, several
classical music concerts and wondering troubadours  singing medieval
Camino songs all over. The festivities will end on Thursday evening with
a last burst of fireworks.  
I'll be going home next Saturday.... exhausted, and very happy.
Liz 

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