Today is the second holiest day of the year in Spain, the festival of
the ascension of the Virgin Mary. At 7 this morning, the statue of the
virgin was carried around the cathedral plaza by 40 men and displayed
to the gathered crowd, as is their tradition. We did not get to the
cathedral till after 9, but there was still a great crowd of locals
gathered, all dressed in their good church clothes, soaking in the
holiness. A brass band in heavy coats milled around, and a troupe of
chinese tourists came by wondering what was happening. One of them
asked what was going on, but she didn't understand christianity, or
virgin births, or rising to heaven. I believe in me, she said, and
then she went off looking for tickets.
We went out to the train station to book tickets for Toledo, and by
the time we returned the city had been shut down for siesta. Ouir
hostal is in the upscale shopping district, tucked away on a narrow,
dead-end side street, in a four-story building with a nice open
central court. But it felt odd that it was three o'clock on a bright
Saturday afternoon and the streets were deserted and the shops all
shuttered up. So we're back at the hostal, resting ourselves from the
100+ degree heat.
More later.
--
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Mike Ramberg
mramberg@visi.com
http://grebmar.net
buy my book: http://lulu.com/mramberg
1 comment:
It may be time for me to be a theological nudge here. I think it goes something like this:
Jesus ascends (active - He does it). Mary is assumed (passive - God does it). It's actually not as fine a distinction as you might at first think...
Jesus/Ascension (Because He is God)
Mary/Assumption (Because she is not)
There - I've done my theological duty. Feel free to ignore me ;-)
Too bad about missing the procession - I was looking forward to pictures....
Cheers for now!
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