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<DIV><SPAN class=250352716-30072003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>'Tigres del Norte' refers to the Northern part of Mexico. I assume
what you call Black Bart costumes are traditional mariachi
dress.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=250352716-30072003><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Jim
Eyskens</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Road to Santiago
Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Elizabeth
Boylston-Morris<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:25 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: New Santiago equestrian statue
and nature of Santiago<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT
lang=0 face="Times New Roman TUR" size=3 FAMILY="SERIF">I completed my
pilgrimage last Saturday and have remained in Santiago enjoying the still
ongoing St. James' day festivities.<BR>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.<BR>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.<BR>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.<BR>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.<BR>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. <BR>I'll be
going home next Saturday.... exhausted, and very happy.<BR>Liz</FONT>
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