I was looking forward to attending this mass because it is the one where they swing the giant incense carrier. Sorry for the varied fonts in this post. Not sure I can fix it from the phone. This is taken from a letter I wrote to my family right afterwards.
By six there were almost no seats in the 1000 seat Cathedral. By 6:30, people were sitting at the base of the pillars and standing at the back. The people in my pew spoke English but it was a LOOONG wait because about every 10 minutes a man in an official vest would advance to the mike and say "shhhh!" And something in Spanish that seemed to boil down to please respect this place and the mass by waiting in silence.
We more or less ignored this and chatted quietly for a while but there was a long time of silent waiting.
About 10 minutes before the time, a nun advanced to the mike and patiently taught us a three line chorus to a processional and a response to the psalm of the day. This would have gone somewhat better from my point of view had I had any idea what the words actually were. But together we managed to produce a respectable backup to the nuns clear and powerful lead.
The mass was con celebrated by about 12 backup priests and the bishop. I think some of the priests
were pilgrims from various countries. Some came from the place I'm staying. ( I can follow a very little bit of Spanish). They explained who the priests were and welcomed assorted delegations that had been seated in front. They then proceeded to welcome pilgrims who had started from various cities by nationality. Only Americans from Pamplona today--so that's me, and my sister by proxy.
We went into the mass proper. Someone from the delegations read the Old Testament reading. I did not manage to follow it well enough to pick out what story it was except that there were kings and priests and the people of Israel. The gospel reading was from the sermon on the mount and by the second half of the reading I managed to understand a few verses. The nun sang the psalm. Then to my dismay we had speeches by representatives of five delegations.
These were addressed to the bishop, who then
personally greeted each reader and hugged them or
blessed them in some other way (very personal and based no doubt on the 30 second private. conversation he had with each one). This was clearly immensely powerful for the folks in the delegations and especially the speakers. Less so for those of us whose Spanish was not up to the task.
The sermon related pilgrimage to the scripture of the day and I couldn't follow more than one word in twenty.
They used English as well as Spanish to say don't take communion if you are not a Catholic.
The incense thing didn't happen until the very end. While they were getting set up the bishop explained that this wasn't just something to attract tourists but an act of worship with the incense representing the prayers of the people rising to God.
The thing with the incense in it is this huge silver contraption maybe about 24 inches in diameter at the base. When it gets flying back and forth it's like a huge wrecking ball and they loft it high up into the space at the sides. You smell surprisingly little of the incense. The nun sang the whole time the thing was flying. The said no photos during mass but no one was obedient during this thing.
I left and sat down to dinner alone but a fellow pilgrim I knew stopped in to introduce her mother and we ended up three at a two person table. It was lovely and I was able to have a small portion of octopus (its ok) and some other things too. Got back to my room at 10.
Sorry this is so long. Trust you can skim and glance at photos.
Love,
Becky
Sent from my iPhone
I got to the Cathedral by about 5:30. There was a line which I promptly joined, behind a nun who was shepherding a classroom full of third or fourth graders. To be honest I thought I was in line to buy tickets. I knew mass would be free but thought I might be too early for that. I figured I would stroll around the Cathedral sight seeing and be in plenty of time to grab a fairly good seat. Hah!
The line I was in turned out to be the line where you go behind the altar to touch the statue of St James that is the central figure behind the altar. I dutifully touched my head to the figure and murmured a prayer of thanks but it was fascinating to watch the faces of some of the kids as they did this. By the time I got out into the main Cathedral seats were beginning to fill up. I grabbed a seat at the front side where the thurible crew were going to start. The seats were marked reserved for people with a pilgrims credential though no one came by to check. Still most of us look pretty battle worn or at least a bit grubby by now.
By six there were almost no seats in the 1000 seat Cathedral. By 6:30, people were sitting at the base of the pillars and standing at the back. The people in my pew spoke English but it was a LOOONG wait because about every 10 minutes a man in an official vest would advance to the mike and say "shhhh!" And something in Spanish that seemed to boil down to please respect this place and the mass by waiting in silence.
We more or less ignored this and chatted quietly for a while but there was a long time of silent waiting.
About 10 minutes before the time, a nun advanced to the mike and patiently taught us a three line chorus to a processional and a response to the psalm of the day. This would have gone somewhat better from my point of view had I had any idea what the words actually were. But together we managed to produce a respectable backup to the nuns clear and powerful lead.
The mass was con celebrated by about 12 backup priests and the bishop. I think some of the priests
were pilgrims from various countries. Some came from the place I'm staying. ( I can follow a very little bit of Spanish). They explained who the priests were and welcomed assorted delegations that had been seated in front. They then proceeded to welcome pilgrims who had started from various cities by nationality. Only Americans from Pamplona today--so that's me, and my sister by proxy.
We went into the mass proper. Someone from the delegations read the Old Testament reading. I did not manage to follow it well enough to pick out what story it was except that there were kings and priests and the people of Israel. The gospel reading was from the sermon on the mount and by the second half of the reading I managed to understand a few verses. The nun sang the psalm. Then to my dismay we had speeches by representatives of five delegations.
These were addressed to the bishop, who then
personally greeted each reader and hugged them or
blessed them in some other way (very personal and based no doubt on the 30 second private. conversation he had with each one). This was clearly immensely powerful for the folks in the delegations and especially the speakers. Less so for those of us whose Spanish was not up to the task.
The sermon related pilgrimage to the scripture of the day and I couldn't follow more than one word in twenty.
They used English as well as Spanish to say don't take communion if you are not a Catholic.
The incense thing didn't happen until the very end. While they were getting set up the bishop explained that this wasn't just something to attract tourists but an act of worship with the incense representing the prayers of the people rising to God.
The thing with the incense in it is this huge silver contraption maybe about 24 inches in diameter at the base. When it gets flying back and forth it's like a huge wrecking ball and they loft it high up into the space at the sides. You smell surprisingly little of the incense. The nun sang the whole time the thing was flying. The said no photos during mass but no one was obedient during this thing.
I left and sat down to dinner alone but a fellow pilgrim I knew stopped in to introduce her mother and we ended up three at a two person table. It was lovely and I was able to have a small portion of octopus (its ok) and some other things too. Got back to my room at 10.
Sorry this is so long. Trust you can skim and glance at photos.
Love,
Becky
Sent from my iPhone
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