Again we have had an extreamly busy day and I will be splitting the day into two posts.
After an extreamly good nights sleep we woke up at about 8. Just after nine we went down to brekfast, and what a brekfast! Bread with a selection of meats, jams, fresh honey, orange juice, tea or coffee, toast and a fried egg.
Fortified we were ready for the pilgrims mass. We had aranged with Pension Alfonso to leave one rucksack with them as we were planning to go off to A Coruna for the night after the Mass. In the rucksack we had stuffed all the things we no longer required, such as sleeping bags and towels. Before we left
I offered to pay for the night we had just had, in fact my intension was to pay for both. But they would have none of it, you can pay when you come back. Spanish trust is amazing, like the bars where you sit outside drink multiple beers and could leg it, but they trust you won't. Wouldn't it be great to have such trust in the UK!
Fortified both in body and soul, we headed off to the Mass, as we had been told to get there early we arrived just before 11, as a result we got seats nearly at the front. The first thing I saw was that the Botafumeiro was missing. Was it because it was a Friday? or was it because no one had paid for it!
As we waited we began to see other pilgrims we knew, the tall Norwegians arrived and sat behind us, our Austrian friend sat next to me, across the isle were the couple from the Nethelands with Artis de partis the creature from Amsterdam zoo. We then saw one of the Finnish doctors and a tall Dutch girl. Suddenly the lights were switched on and we saw St James over the high altar in all his glory
A nun with a serene face and a beautiful singing voice talked us through the various responses, the organ struck up and five priests processed in, including the priest from Rabanal who had given the pilgrims blessing there.
The mass had begun, the lead Priest welcomed us in a number of languages and the read out by starting point where people had come from. Somewhere in the mids was Le Puy and also Reino Unido which threw us somwhat as we were expecting England or Gt Britain rather than the United Kingdom.
The priest then started the service with the words "The lord be with you" in a number of languages including English. He then continued in Spanish and Latin for the various responses, which were sung and lead by the nun. At the distribution nothing was said about who was in and who was out, and so I went and recieved, the bread was given by the priest with the words in Latin Corpus Christi. And during communion the nun led the congregation in the Taize chant Ubi Caritas. At the end the priest dismissed us in a variety of tongues. All in all it was very moving and the most spiritual service I had attended on the whole camino. The only off putting thing being the constant stream of St James huggers, hugging St James statue while the mass took place.
After the service we headed out and again bumped into a variety of people we had seen on the trip, recieving huggs and kisses from people we had only said "Buen Camino" to as we passed and repassed them, including a trio of Spaniards, two lads and a girl we had been seeing since staying at Jesus Albergue on our third day.
All in all it was a very special series of moments.
After an extreamly good nights sleep we woke up at about 8. Just after nine we went down to brekfast, and what a brekfast! Bread with a selection of meats, jams, fresh honey, orange juice, tea or coffee, toast and a fried egg.
Fortified we were ready for the pilgrims mass. We had aranged with Pension Alfonso to leave one rucksack with them as we were planning to go off to A Coruna for the night after the Mass. In the rucksack we had stuffed all the things we no longer required, such as sleeping bags and towels. Before we left
I offered to pay for the night we had just had, in fact my intension was to pay for both. But they would have none of it, you can pay when you come back. Spanish trust is amazing, like the bars where you sit outside drink multiple beers and could leg it, but they trust you won't. Wouldn't it be great to have such trust in the UK!
Fortified both in body and soul, we headed off to the Mass, as we had been told to get there early we arrived just before 11, as a result we got seats nearly at the front. The first thing I saw was that the Botafumeiro was missing. Was it because it was a Friday? or was it because no one had paid for it!
As we waited we began to see other pilgrims we knew, the tall Norwegians arrived and sat behind us, our Austrian friend sat next to me, across the isle were the couple from the Nethelands with Artis de partis the creature from Amsterdam zoo. We then saw one of the Finnish doctors and a tall Dutch girl. Suddenly the lights were switched on and we saw St James over the high altar in all his glory
The mass had begun, the lead Priest welcomed us in a number of languages and the read out by starting point where people had come from. Somewhere in the mids was Le Puy and also Reino Unido which threw us somwhat as we were expecting England or Gt Britain rather than the United Kingdom.
The priest then started the service with the words "The lord be with you" in a number of languages including English. He then continued in Spanish and Latin for the various responses, which were sung and lead by the nun. At the distribution nothing was said about who was in and who was out, and so I went and recieved, the bread was given by the priest with the words in Latin Corpus Christi. And during communion the nun led the congregation in the Taize chant Ubi Caritas. At the end the priest dismissed us in a variety of tongues. All in all it was very moving and the most spiritual service I had attended on the whole camino. The only off putting thing being the constant stream of St James huggers, hugging St James statue while the mass took place.
After the service we headed out and again bumped into a variety of people we had seen on the trip, recieving huggs and kisses from people we had only said "Buen Camino" to as we passed and repassed them, including a trio of Spaniards, two lads and a girl we had been seeing since staying at Jesus Albergue on our third day.
All in all it was a very special series of moments.
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