Official opening of the Holy Jacobean Year

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
The Xacobean Holy Year was oficially opened with a splendid recognition of us pilgrims and with what is called the Botafumeiro rite.
It started on January 1st. about 11:20 am, before the Pilgrims Mass. Once again, there were an awful lot of church and other officials and there was a procession during which a repilca of the St. James bust (the one we hug) was carried throughout the Cathedral underneath a palio, accompanied by an honor guard of prelates and officials. After the procession there was a religious ritual during which the Archbishop spoke.
He reminded the listeners of the meaning of "2004", that is, the number of years that have passed since the birth of Jesus. He said that the time of the world has been broken into the years Before Christ, that is, BC, and the current ones after Christ (AD for Ammo Domini,year of the Lord, or CE for Christian Era). But, he added the significant difference earmarked was the change in the relationships among humans from those of revenge and retribution ("an eye for an eye") to a consciousness of the higher graces possible to the human heart, such as forgiveness, understanding and conquest by love ("Love thy enemies");he said that while those graces are difficult to achieve they are exemplified every day by the Camino pilgrims who see themselves as one and rush to each others! assistance regardless of differences of age, background or language.... Camino Samaritans, all.
He reiteratred that the Camino, Santiago, the Cathedral and the spiritual phenomenon that Compostela represents is the creation of us pilgrims who have gone to visit the grave of the Apostle "praying with our feet" and seeking the higher  possibilities of the human soul.
The Botafumeiro was then lowered and put into motion, first accompanied by plaintive music from some small oboe-like instruments (called "fagots", I think, with one "g") and then by the resounding notes of the organ that seemed to celebrate the revelation of something glorious.
It was very something else!
After the ceremony, the botafumeiro, that had been hanging over the altar since the 30th of December, was disengaged and teken away.
The pilgrims! Mass then took place.  It was announced that 139 hardy pilgrims had received the Compostela on the 31st. (including some from Canada and the USA), and that many more were on the way.
After Mass, going down Vilar Street I saw a lot of pilgrims just arrived waiting outside the Pilgrims! office. It turned out that the Office is only open for two hours in the morning in that one day of the year.
The rest of the day was spent in and out of the Cathedral.  Some of us went through the Holy Door several times (seven, in my case) on behalf of some people who couldn!t be there.  The lines were very long.
That night, at 8:00 p.m. the first of the musical concerts that will be held in the Cathedral throughout the year took place. It was a choral concert sung by a group called "Coro Union Fenosa de la Republica de Moldavia", conducted by a very attractive young woman whose name is Ilona Stepan and who has walked the Camino more than once.  The singers were about thirty in all and they were magnificent. The idea was to express the fact that although Maldovia is on the other side of Europe, all countries are united by the Camino.
(I asked some very well heeled, dressed-to-the-nines Galicians sitting next to me where Moldavia is  and they did not know either).
After the concert I hung out in the near by bars and squares h unwilling to leave. When I left the next day to come back to Rome I was very, very sad; much as I love Italy, which indeed I do, greatly, I would have liked to stay on for a few days.
It is not likely that I will have another such experience in my lifetime; I am grateful that I did, but I do wish that I still were there.
Warm regards,
Rosina