[Gocamino] Toronto synopsis...simple view

[Kathy Gower]

To give you all a flavor of the Toronto Gathering,
I'll put down some thoughts and hopefully one of the
150 participants will chime in....

We were about 150 strong, from 8 Canadian Provinces,
18 States, England, Ireland, Germany and Greece,
ranging in age from 13 to several "over 70"....

There was a Hospitalero Training for about 40
potential hospitaleros, that I did not attend, but
arrived at St. Michael's College in time to see them
emerge from St. Basil's, newly commissioned and all
smiling and wearing purple bandanas to signify their
rank.  Hurray, I'd be thrilled to run into any one of
them along the Camino.

First official event (there were several repeated
workshops) was a Tapas dinner complete with the
Tourist Board of Spain and the Spanish Consul General
and a full evening of stories, film clips and
merriment and emotional tears for some of the tales.

Saturday was full with lectures in the morning ranging
from an overview of Medieval and Modern Pilgrimage, to
an intriguing thesis of the Holy Grail in the Pyranees
as evidenced by murals painted in the 1120s of Mary
with the "grail", a good 50 years before Cretin de
Troyes told his tales and more.  Medieval Pilgrimage
sites and another mystery of the Sword of Roland and
Rocamadour rounded out the morning. Laurie Dennett
gave a sweeping overview from the dicovery of the
"bones" of St. James through current happenings along
the road.

The afternoon was filled with workshops on everything
from presentations on the various routes to outdooor
medicine to Spanish wine tasting  to spiritual matters
such as reincorporation of experience and tai chi,
labyrinth and Gregorian Chant.  ( we were sung to
sleep by chanted Complines in Saint Basil's on
Friday.)

I'm probably not remembering everything and I trust
there will be many more reports, but after a Latin
Mass, a reception followed with a lovely performance
of Spanish and Galician dancing by a young and
flourishing dance group dressed in native costume.

A feast followed at Trinity College with paella, trout
or chicken accompanied by a Flamenco Guitarist and
later by an a capella music group performing what I
thought were perhaps the Cantigas.  It was a feast of
riches and forgive me if I don't catch it all.

More lectures and hikes on Sunday, including some more
film clips, pilgrim attire and art and architecture
along the way.  It's no wonder this was all followed
by a spiritual retreat given by the priests at St.
Michael's and Wanda Sawicki.

I apologize if I left anything out and strongly urge
pilgrims who were there to go a little deeper than
this broad brush stroke.  It was a heartfelt event and
held something for all once and future pilgrims.  The
premiere issue of American Pilgrim, the journal of the
American Pilgrims on the Camino had it's debut.