El Botafumiero: Fumigating Pilgrims And Civil Servants 😆

It was a cold autumn morning when I found myself on top of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, walking on its roof and history. I joined a group of Spanish tourists and being the only non-Spaniard in the group, I could barely keep up with the conversation led by Lidia, our assigned Cathedral tour guide. 

I figured, even if I didn't quite understand a few sentences, with some palábras not yet in my Spanish vocabulary and conjugation way beyond my Level 4 Spanish at Instituto Cervantes de Manila, I was determined to enjoy the Spanish-language tour.😄

But after almost two hours of discovering the hidden corners of the Cathedral not accessible to the pilgrims below, we finally found ourselves at the loft watching the crowd of pilgrims at the nave and the glorious altar of Saint James, the Great from afar.

As the tour ended, we all descended the stairs hidden on the left side of the nave and went on our separate ways. I, on the other hand, went right up closer to the altar and chose a spot on the right, next to a huge column that supported the same roof I was just standing on earlier. The reason for choosing this spot?

The botafumiero.😍

(The Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio celebrates the holy mass with the pilgrims from all over the world)

The botafumiero is the most famous thurible in the world. A thurible is a metal censer that is used in many churches and religions around the world. In Santiago de Compostela, the botafumiero ('smoke expeller' in the Galician language) is used at the Cathedral as part of the tradition that's more than 600 years old.

It was almost noon when I claimed this spot. Soon after, the mass officiated by no less than the Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela began.

And right in the middle of the mass, it all happened for all the pilgrims to experience.

Eight men clothed in red robes went in front of the altar and pulled the botafumiero while a nun sang a hymn in Spanish. The metal censer weighed about 54 kilos and those eight men pulled the ropes to create momentum for the botafumiero to swing across the nave. According to a story from the 16th century, the ropes holding the botafumiero snapped and the metal censer landed on a pilgrim, killing him (or was it her?) on the spot. The other pilgrims believed that the soul of the unfortunate pilgrim went straight to heaven as the pilgrim just completed the camino and died right inside the Cathedral.

And as the botafumiero swung across the nave, from left to right and back, the pilgrims below took out their cameras and trained them high up to the heavy metal censer, now weighting more than 150 kilos due to the momentum. The botafumiero was now spreading the incense from high up, fumigating the sacred halls.

In the olden times, other than lifting the prayers up to the heavens, the botafumiero subdued the smell of the sweaty pilgrims below, who, along with a pack of their unwashed clothes, must have carried with them a few diseases.

My botafumiero experience lasted for a few minutes but it stays with me for a lifetime, fumigation anecdotes and all.

That's why, these days, when some uninformed government official suggested steaming one's self to kill the corona virus, the botafumiero tradition came to mind. 

Other than giving pilgrims an experience of a lifetime, the botafumiero could probably fumigate these public officials' minds. 

For some divine enlightenment.😀 

A botafumiero video:

Santiago de Compostela: Saint James and The Field of Stars

In the autumn of 2015, an hour after I arrived alone by train at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, I got lost trying to find my way around the old city in search of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 

Instead of finding the Cathedral, I found myself resting under a shed that sat on a hill overlooking a small park with the buildings of the old city in the horizon. It was late in the afternoon and yet I decided to stay and just quietly sat on the ledge. As the evening came, one by one, the stars over this pilgrim city, named after Saint James, the Great, revealed themselves.

‘Compostela’ came from the Latin words ‘campus stellae’, meaning ‘a field of stars’. And as I sat there gazing up the Galician night sky on a spot I claimed my own, I wondered whether the millions of other pilgrims that came before me during the past millennium had gazed at the same campus stellae and felt the same serenity, peace, and humility for being in the resting place of one of Jesus’ apostles.

St. James, the Great was the brother of St. John, the Evangelist, both sons of Zebedee and Mary Salome. And along with St. Peter and St. John, St. James, the Great (sometimes known as St. James, the Elder) was there during Christ’s agony in the Garden of Getsemane and His Transfiguration, two of the most important moments of His life.

According to traditional belief, St. James, the Great traveled to Romania Hispania (present-day Spain and Portugal) to preach the Gospel. There, he encountered difficulty and disheartenment. But on January 2, 40 CE, as he was praying at the banks of the Ebor River in Caesaraugusta (present-day Zaragoza), the Virgin Mary, accompanied by angels, appeared to him on a pillar to console and encourage him, and told him to return to Jerusalem. This apparition of the Virgin was the first known mystical occurrence of bilocation, a phenomenon where a person is in two places at the same time. The Virgin Mary was still on Earth and living in Jerusalem in Judaea when she appeared before St. James in Caesaraugusta. And on that spot where she appeared now stands the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar or the Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain.

After his return to Jerusalem, in 43 CE, St. James was beheaded upon orders of Herod Agrippa, the king of Judaea at that time. According to the Acts of the Apostles, St. James, the Great was the first apostle to be martyred. After his death, his own apostles brought his body on a boat back to the Iberian Peninsula and buried him in a tomb in the area what is now Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

For centuries, his tomb was forgotten and neglected during the persecution of Christians. But in 814 CE, a hermit, who, upon seeing strange lights at night over a forest in Galicia, went to investigate and discovered a tomb. The lights over the forest might have been stars that guided the hermit. This gave the spiritual meaning to the Latin words ‘campus stellae’, which then gave Compostela its name.

A bishop informed King Alfonso II of this miracle. The monarch, who was said to have been the first ever pilgrim to St. James’ tomb, ordered the construction of a chapel over the sacred site, and over the succeeding centuries, construction and destruction of the church happened under different rulers. But in 1075, during the reign of Alfonso VI, the cathedral, which stands until today, started to take shape and the word about this holy site in Compostela spread across Europe. 

In the same year, it became an episcopal see and the church was elevated into a cathedral. In 1100, Pope Urban II made it an archiepiscopal see. And finally, in 1211, the Cathedral was consecrated in the presence of Alfonso IX.

Although the stories and sacred traditions about Santiago de Compostela are renowned and legendary, it is the individual journeys of each pilgrim that makes it special. It's not just a trip to a holy site to venerate the Apostle's resting place but a journey in search of one's faith or one's self. Each of the millions of pilgrims who traveled the network of European roads on foot, on a bike, or on a horse leading to Santiago de Compostela has a special story. Daily arrivals of pilgrims number to about 600 during spring and increase to a thousand during summer months.

A lady from England whom I met in Santiago told me she was not a Catholic but did the pilgrimage, popularly known as The Way of St. James or El Camino de Santiago in Spanish, because she did not know what to do with her life. And during her journey on foot from another Spanish city, she realized her life's meaning and was even tearful when I asked her what she learned about herself. 

Veit, a guy from Dortmund, Germany, biked for 2,000 kilometers and set up camp with Mihai, a guy from Ireland, in a spot next to the shed where I rested. Veit told me that kindness is still humanity's greatest trait as, during his two-month road trip, strangers gave him food, helped him repair a busted tire, and provided him with a place to sleep without asking anything in return. They both invited me to share in their simple dinner as they sat on the grass by their tent. As the people that visited Santiago de Compostela are pilgrims and not tourists, the energy of the place is spiritual. Faith, not sightseeing, brought everyone to this old city. 

On my visit to the Cathedral the day after I got lost, I joined the pilgrims in the traditional embracing of the golden statue of St. James behind the Cathedral's altar while chatting with an elder Spanish lady who told me more about the legend as we queued. 

After that, I went down to his crypt below the Cathedral and knelt before his tomb to say a prayer of thanksgiving, forgiveness, and peace. Learning its history, I realized the monarchs who constructed this place were my namesake. They might have provided the money, materials, and workers to build the cathedral, but it's the love, the faith, and the kindness of the pilgrims that, over the centuries, have provided inspiration and strength to everyone's journey to Santiago de Compostela.💗

(The silhouette of the Cathedral of 

Santiago de Compostela)

Santiago De Compostela: Faith And The Field Of Stars

As I quietly sat there alone on the ledge overlooking Parque de Belvis, next to a shed outside the doors of Albergue Seminario Menor, I felt the spiritual energy of a city that is a thousand years old and the final stop of a journey of a million pilgrims.

            (Night falls on Santiago de Compostela)

Dusk slowly turned into night, and the weary tourist turned into a grateful pilgrim. He felt peace, humility, and serenity.

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For some, it’s called fate. Others, serendipity. For me, it was Divine Providence. A divine intervention, an intervention into my travel plans, that is.

My trip to Santiago de Compostela in Spain kicked off right in the middle of a busy intersection in the Yongsan District in Seoul, South Korea, three years before the trip. On that spot, a stranger whom I initially presumed to be an English teacher asked for my help.

“Can you help me?”, he asked.

“Of course!”, I immediately exclaimed. I had always been asked by Koreans for directions because I looked (and probably attired) like a local; and a few times, I was able to help (I spoke a little hangeul). But this time, I was surprised hearing someone asking for help in English!

His name was Kíko, and he was a stranger for the first five minutes – the time it took me to call the information hotline and figure out the exact location of the place he was looking for in the Yongsan District. When Kíko told me he was from Spain, my Spanish lessons from Instituto Cervantes kicked in and I introduced myself to him in Español! My Spanish professors would have been proud! 😂 Since we exchanged business cards before we parted, we managed to get in touch through Facebook.

Three years after that meeting in Seoul, Kíko and I finally met again! In Spain! In another spot thousands of miles away, Kíko met me at San Cristobal Train Station in his hometown, A Coruña, a city 25 minutes by train from Santiago de Compostela, and toured me around his very historic hometown.

Years before that, I only heard about The Way of St. James or the Camino, and Santiago de Compostela from friends. But this time, because I wanted to visit Kíko in Spain, the third most popular Catholic pilgrim site in the world got into my radar, and eventually into my itinerary.

It was past 3 in the afternoon when I arrived in Santiago de Compostela Train Station. I left Madrid at 10AM and only had jamón boccadillo for lunch on the Renfe train. Before I left for Spain, I made sure I memorized the map around the train station where my hotel was located. I found it after a few minutes by navigating three street corners and after a brief workout since I had to take the stairs leading to the street level and out of the station. I had to lift my luggage all the way up! Step by step!

After dropping off my things at the hotel, I walked towards the Cathedral area with a map provided by the hotel, and made a stopover at a fast food restaurant to guzzle up two orders of a set meal as I was starving!

After crossing the street from Plaza de Galiciá and into the old Santiago de Compostela area, I just let my legs guide me through the narrow, cobblestoned alleys until I ended up in a park with a labyrinth garden, Parque de Belvis.

From the park, I saw a huge, old structure sitting on a hill. I thought this was the back of the Catedrál de Santiágo de Compostéla, so I headed up there and found a small shed. I was wrong; it was the Albergue Seminario Menor, a seminary and a hostel that provides pilgrims a place to wash and sleep for a small fee. 

I was lost!

I always say that getting lost is part of the adventure. But this time, getting lost was not just part of my adventure, it was a blessing!

‘Compostela’ came from the Latin words ‘campus stellae’, meaning ‘field of stars’. And as I sat there on the ledge next to the pilgrim shelter, on that spot I claimed my own, the evening skies above the old city revealed a field of stars that must have witnessed spirituality and journeys of faith for centuries. I doubted that my own journey could even compare to those of the pilgrims of old.

Unlike Madrid or Barcelóna, Santiago de Compostela is not touristy. Since everyone who visits is a pilgrim, its atmosphere is very spiritual. Faith, not sightseeing, has brought everyone to this place. This was not traveling, but a journey in search of one's self, or of one's faith.

                  (A cloudy and rainy morning when I left 
                                   Santiago de Compostela)

I stayed for three days and it was drizzling on the morning I left. I had to drag once more my luggage, this time back to the train station to catch my 8:30AM Renfe train to Barcelona. I got wet but I just accepted it as holy water from the heavens blessing me as I went on to complete my journey around Spain.

Santiago, or Saint James, the Greater, was buried in Galicia by his apostles after bringing his remains back to Spain; he was beheaded in Jerusalem in 44 CE. 

According to legend, his remains in the Galician forest were discovered in the 9^th century by a hermit after he saw strange lights in the area. The hermit was also guided by a star to the burial grounds, thus giving spiritual meaning to ‘campus stellae’.

Just like the pilgrims who walked the Camino and traveled thousands of miles to visit Saint James’ final resting place, I felt blessed to have completed the journey and even more blessed that on my first night in Santiago de Compostela, the field of stars above this ancient city was revealed to me as I quietly prayed on that dark corner of Parque de Belvis - a spot I found, not because I got lost in the old city I now realize, but a spot my faith guided me to find.🙏

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              Santiago de Compostela's train station 
           was just about 200 meters from my hotel.

    Having my breakfast and studying the map 

                       at Hotel Rey Fernando.

I took a tour of the Cathedral that included roaming its rooftop; it was in Spanish because the English tour was scheduled on another day.

     Lidira, our Spanish tour guide, took this photo on top of the Cathedral.

                 I attended the 12noon pilgrim mass                  where I witnessed the botafumiero swing 

            over the pilgrims. It was an experience!

          Archbishop Julián Barrio Barrio blessing us

                      after the pilgrim mass.

                                           (Praza de Platerias)

I chatted with these newly arrived pilgrims in the restaurant.  She was South African but lived in England and had taught in Thailand where she had Filipino friends. I told her not to cry a lot when she would finish her journey at Finistere.

My lunch of pulpo a gallega - a popular Galician dish made of octopus that was boiled and cut into pieces, then sprinkled with salt and paprika, and bathed in olive oil. Each bite of the cut tentacles is very soft and tender, with the flavor inexplicably delightful to a pilgrim!

Pilgrims lining up to get their certificate that they have completed the Camino.

The Praza de Obradoiro in front of the Cathedral. Pilgrims sit there to rest after completing the Camino.

The silhouette of a thousand-year-old pilgrimage of faith. I took this photo when I was on the rooftop of the Cathedral.

That's the Seminario Menor which I thought was the back of the Cathedral. On the foreground is the labyrinth on Parque de Belvis. My spot on the shed above the steps on the left side of the photo - a spot to best quietly watch the city and field of stars at night.

It was almost 10PM when I realized I had to make my way from the Parque de Belvis back to my hotel at the other side of the town. Time passed so quickly; I was at the park around 5:30PM and didn't realize it was late. At the shed next to the Seminario Menor, I chatted with Veit who rode his bicycle all the way from Dortmund, Germany; Mihai from Ireland; and Alvaro Medio, a local whose family used to live in Lugo, a nearby city. Alvaro told me (we chatted in Spanish) that he was studying to be a cook.

Walking towards the Cathedral at around 10:30PM, I heard male voices singing. I had to find out where they were coming from. Tuna de Santiago de Compostela is a group of professional male singers who amazed the pilgrims near the Cathedral in the evening with their Spanish music. They also promoted their CDs; I was happy I bought 2 of their CDs.

Even late at night, pilgrims stay around the Cathedral's Praza de Obradoiro to be amazed by the architecture, history, and magnificence of this holy place consecrated to Saint James, the Greater. I passed this place after listening to a few songs by the Tuna de Santiago de Compostela. I was able to find my way back to the Plaza de Galicia after asking for directions from a señorita running a convenience store a few alleys from this spot (I spoke basic Spanish). I felt safe walking around the city late at night as I knew Someone up there was watching over me as I went on with my journey.😇

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#saintjamesthegreater #santiago #santiagodecompostela #caminodesantiago #camino #pilgrims #peregrino #travel #espana #spain #galicia

These are the helpful links I used in my journey to Santiago de Compostela:

https://www.spain.info

http://catedraldesantiago.es/en/

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html