[Gocamino] mini videos

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Someone recommended to me some mini-videos posted to You Tube by Austrian pilgrims.
As those things go, the recommended videos turned out to be pretty good. One of them, in fact, is quite impressive.
If you go to You Tube and select "Kirchen am Jakobsweg" you will see some stunning church interiors with a Gregorian chants musical background. (in lasts about five minutes)
An Austrian couple went to Santiago by bike last year, their video record, in two parts,  is titled "Jakobsweg 1" and "Jakobsweg 2"; each one lasts about nine minutes.
It is quite interesting to see the different things which impressed the "golden-hearted Viennese" in the Camino..... the music in the mini videos is also notable, particularly our Aretha's "I say a little prayer for you".
 
 
Also, four guys from lovely Zamora have instituted a donkey service for pilgrims. The donkeys carry the bags and/or children of pilgrims for the last 100-200 kms. of the Camino. They come accompanied by a care-taker who sees to the donkeys well-being, their food and their accommodation at night. You may read about the availability of their service at www.elburroperegrino.com.
In Christian lore donkeys are very special creatures. It was as donkey that carried Mary to Betlehem before Jesus was born. The Baby Jesus was warmed by the breath of a donkey and a cow at the manger (feeding trough); a donkey carried Mary and the Baby to Jerusalem, and two years later a donkey carried Mary and Child Jesus to Egypt to escape the slaughter of the innocents. Before entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday Jesus sent one of the apostles (Saint James?) to fetch a she-donkey, and her young, to carry Him into the City.
 
In Seville the Holy Week celebrations begin on Palm Sunday with the procession of the "Borriquita" (dear donkey). The huge float shows Jesus on the donkey, and a lot of people around Him with our Saint James holding the rear, dressed in a white tunic with the red Cross of Santiago. The children of the Confraternity members, by the hundreds and hundreds, form the procession.... all in their white habits with the Cross of Santiago. They are the first to traverse the official route and to enter the Cathedral.... and as they do so, I don't think that there is a dry-eye among the tens of thousands of onlookers.
 
Some weeks ago there were several messages about our spiritual experiences in the Camino. It occurred to me that it is possible, really and truly, to feel and to see spirituality as something tangible floating around and enveloping anyone as a warm, vivid, comforting, exhilarating and intoxicating  cloud ..... it can be seen and felt, very intensely, by itself and out of one's human self,  in the streets of Seville in Holy Week when a procession passes by.
 
I myself will be going to Seville for Holy Week, as I have done for the past twenty-two years (save 2) , and I can  hardly contain my excitement. The days until I leave on the 29th are going to be very long indeed.
 
Lastly, the municipal authorities in Santiago put their signature on a plan to establish bicycle lanes to help arriving pilgrims reach the Cathedral. The lanes, as planned, will be protected from intrusion by automobiles and such and will reach the edge of the Casco, which is already pretty much car-traffic free.
 
Hugs!
 
Rosina 
 
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