<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Franklin Gothic Medium" LANG="0">Hello you all, <BR>
On December 31, at 4:00 p.m. the Santiago Archbishop, Monsignor Julian Barrio, will open the Holy Door. The ancient ceremony means to symbolize the beginning of the Holy Year and the entrance of the faithful searching forgiveness and blessings. As we know, another name for the door is "Puerta del Perdon" , that is, Door of Forgiveness. Before opening the door the Archbishop will initiate the tearing down of the wall presently occupying the doorway space by hitting a sensitive spot thereof with a very large silver hammer. After that, mason priests will complete the demolition whereupon the crowds waiting outside usually rush in even before the tearing down is finished, picking up pieces of debris as they push inside. Throughout the years this has caused disorders and, apparently, this is the last year that this particular act will take place.<BR>
The Cathedral's Cabildo (administrative council) and the Dean of the church, Manuel Calvo Tojo, have stated that this tradition needs to be done away with since it is, essentially, meaningless. They say that, to begin with, the "wall" is not really a wall wall since it is placed in the doorway only a few days before the ceremony, and is put together loosely so that it can be torn down with ease. (In fact, last week they were already working on it and it appeared that a wooden frame was put inside the doorway to sustain "the wall"). Further, the Dean and the Cabildo said, tearing down the wall creates a lot of confusion and exaggerated mayhem with dozens of people pushing on one another to get a piece of the torn down wall, more and more of them doing so not just with the desire to keep a religious memento of the moment, but with the crass purpose of collecting the wall fragments to sell them later to those who could not get close. <BR>
While doing away with a centuries old tradition may discomfit some of the faithful, the Dean and the Cabildo are persuaded that the ceremony is valueless, as are the fragments of the torn down wall, since "the only thing that matters is the recognition that opening the door is merely symbolic of opening the door of the spirit and the heart to Christian values defined by humanity and humility".<BR>
The Dean and the Cabildo feel sure that once the faithful see the new work-of-art-in-bronze-and-steel new door they will recognize the futility of the tearing-down rite.<BR>
The new door was put in exhibition last week in one of the Cathedral's cloisters and, let me tell you, it is something else.<BR>
I haven't time to write about it right now, but will do so later if you are interested.<BR>
Also...please tell me: did I post the October pilgrims' statistics? I am ready to post the November ones but would like to send you the October ones first.<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina<BR>
</FONT></HTML>