<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Franklin Gothic Medium" LANG="0">Hey Mike,<BR>
Lighten up!<BR>
I read your message and had a good laugh!<BR>
In fact, in my heart of hearts I dislike, disdain and resent computers of any religion, gender, race or color.... bar absolutely none.<BR>
But, like going to a dentist, the medium has become a necessary evil.<BR>
(I read your message to my very Episcopalian sister in law and she couldn't stop laughing!)<BR>
What the world needs, methinks, is less strait lace.... corsets keep you from laughing and laughter, as anyone knows, gladdens the heart, makes the body healthy and causes the sun to shine.<BR>
As to the Holy door: for centuries and centuries a special door leading into the Cathedral from the Quintana Plaza has been walled up with cement blocks. The door is popularly known as the "Holy door" but its name is really "Puerta del Perdon" or door of forgiveness. In Medieval times it was believed that one could obtain "Indulgences", such as shortening the time of a soul in purgatory by 5,000 years or so, if one crossed the door during a special year in which Saint James' day fell on a Sunday. But obtaining such indulgence, or grace, was not automatic; one had to feel remorse for one's misdeeds and seek forgiveness from God and from self. It was believed that crossing the door one passed into a state of grace having been spiritually cleansed by such contemplation and forgiveness.<BR>
To dramatize the significance of the event, and of the particular year in which it could take place, the cement wall that closed off the door was torn down and the way into the church made clear.<BR>
This has been going on for many centuries and it has tremendous significance, for Spaniards in particular, it seems.<BR>
In modern times the door is simply locked and the stone "walli" is erected only a few weeks before the start of the Holy Year (In fact, I was in Santiago during Thanksgiving last November and saw some mason priests put it up). To commence the Holy Year, the Archbishop, dignitaries, and church and government notables proceed (in procession) out of the Cathedral, after a very solemn church service, to Quintana Square; the Archbishop reaches the outside of the door, strikes it lightly with a silver hammer three times and then, immediately, like lightening, the inside cement wall crashes down, loudly, into countless fragments (you can see them in the pictures); the Archbishop and a couple of dignitaries sort of jump over the fragments and enter the church. They are followed by other priests that clear out the passage way pushing the fragments to the sides, and then two priests wash the door lintels with Holy water (you can also see them in the pictures); the rest of the official procession reenters the church crossing the door to the majestic and glorious sounds of a Te Deum being sung by a magnificent choir and played by the Cathedral's organ in all its glory.<BR>
Thereafter, non official people who had been waiting outside the door for the event for days (literally) rush to the door, in a most unseemly manner, to pick up some of the stone fragments and take them as significant souvenirs. (Some of those in the official procession also picked up stone pieces, but they did so in a more dignified manner.)<BR>
This happened at about 5:30 p.m. and the crowds, all over Quintana, maintained in some kind of order by the Guardia Civil and police officers on horseback, flowed through the door until 9:p.m.when it was closed to prepare the area for the mind-boggling midnight fireworks and celebrations.<BR>
And that was the way it was.<BR>
Perhaps I should mention that Saint Peter's in Rome also has a Holy Door that is opened by the Pope at the beginning of a Roman Holy Year (I don't know what makes a Roman Holy Year); the last one was the year 2000. The outside of that door is a magnificent, and much admired, work of art that can easily be compared to the famous Baptistry doors in Florence, and when I was in Rome a few days ago I went to look at the inside of the door and much to my ever-loving surprise discovered that it is walled-up in the inside as well, in cement!<BR>
The Santiago Holy door has now new doors sculpted in bronze which are a masterpiece of modern art. Unfortunately, because of the crowds, I couldn't really take a good picture of them.<BR>
Joseph Campbell mentioned in one of his "Myths" programs that the word "religion" comes from two Greek words that mean "linking back"; there must have been a more cogent reason for walling up the Holy doors in medieval times, but it seems that the present rites are simply religiously "linking back".<BR>
Lastly, two of the five pilgrims participating on the ceremonies that day were from Australia; as they passed in front of me tears were rolling down their ruddy cheeks and they seemed to be in touch with time itself.<BR>
Regards,<BR>
Rosina (now home in snowed-in New York... not particularly happy to be back. ..... You know, there was a lot of wisdom in travelling by ship rather that flying. Perhaps a week or two in the high seas might give one a fair opportunity to readjust) </FONT></HTML>