<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Franklin Gothic Medium" LANG="0">Hello you all,<BR>
The Galician Xunta Culture secretary, Jesus Perez Varela, and the originator of the Ruta Quetzal, Miguel de la Quadra, have begun the organization of the 2004 fully sponsored pilgrimage.<BR>
They have invited students, from any country in the world, born in 1987 or 1988, to participate in the contest that will lead to the selection of the 400 young people that will make the pilgrimage.<BR>
Those selected will meet in Mexico in June and will bring 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of Mayan incense that will be used in the Botafumeiro when they finish the pilgrimage. The participants will sail from Mexico to Cadiz, (to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Queen Isabel's death), and will sail on to Lisbon and Oporto until they reach the Arousa riverbed where they will commence walking the Portuguese Way with the intention of reaching Santiago the 24th or 25th of July.<BR>
This will be the nineteenth time that students follow the Quetzal Way that begins in Mexico. <BR>
The sponsors, 21 municipalities and other entities that include the Galician Xunta and. the Rois Council, very much hope that at least one Palestinian student and one of Sephardic descent will participate in 2004.<BR>
<BR>
Speaking of students and pilgrimages, today is the 12th of December which is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of Mexico that has been named by the Pope the Empress of the Americas. At 10:00 a.m. this morning 500 torch-bearing students arrived at Saint Patrick's Cathedral here in New York City, after running, (in relay), all the way from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, more than 3,000 miles away (4,500 kms.?).<BR>
It is estimated that at least 50 million (yes, million!) pilgrims go to the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City every year, which makes the pilgrimage there far and away the most populous anytime anywhere. In fact, the Mexican authorities have built an avenue leading to the Basilica specifically for the pilgrims, who never seem to stop walking towards the church in large groups that come from anywhere in the continent.<BR>
The Mexican Lady of Guadalupe is not the same as the one venerated in Spain under the same name. The one in Spain is a small carved statue of Mary, whereas the one in Mexico is the depiction of the believed apparition of Our Lady in Mexico more than 400 years ago. Whereas apparitions of the Virgin have been reported in several places in Europe (Lourdes, Fatima, Mudjorge and several others), the only one in the American continent has been Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.<BR>
It is somewhat ironic that Christianity and the Catholic religion were brought to America by the Spaniards, yet, when Mexico fought to obtain its independence from Spain in 1810, it used as its flag the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.<BR>
In that war of independence, by the way, Santiago was engaged to help the Mexicans as Santiago Mataespanoles (Spaniards' slayer).<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina </FONT></HTML>