【1346】

Putting aside the title of Holy City, San Diego is still a typical tourist city.

The bars and restaurants are filled with tourists from all over the world, and the streets and alleys are filled with tourists.

The most tourists are the food gathering place in the alley and the favorite place for many foodies. Here, Li Shenxing tasted the super delicious Tapas and roasted seafood.

So ordinary people are ordinary people. Li Shenxing believes that the most secular things that can often support him to the end are eating and drinking.

The Misadel Peregrino is a welcome ceremony prepared by the Cathedral of Santiago for pilgrims who arrive at the end of the pilgrimage. It is held two times a day, at 12:00 noon and 7:30 pm.

If you don’t catch up with the afternoon, you must experience the atmosphere of Mass on the first night of arrival!

When you burp out of the alley, you will go directly to the side door of the small square behind the church and enter the church. The famous Glory Gate facing the square you see during the day is only on the Holy Year (July 25th of July is St. James' Day. If July 25th of a certain year happens to be Sunday, then this year is designated as the "Holy Year", also known as the Jubilee Year), and is accompanied by grand religious rituals, and other times are closed.

Before the Mass begins, the pastor first recites the list of pilgrims (including all pilgrims who have obtained pilgrim certificates within 24 hours) and will mention the departure location and nationality of each pilgrim. However, Li Shenxing vaguely heard his name, but he was still not familiar with the pronunciation of Spanish, and was a little unsure of it!

The main altar of the Santiago Cathedral is difficult to compare with the main altar of Toledo or Seville Cathedral, but the highlight is that it is in its center a full body of St. James, which can be surrounded by people from behind, embrace the saint from behind the statue, and pray to him.

It is said that during the peak period of tourists' visits, it takes a long queue to get intimate contact with St. James. However, fortunately that day, there were not many people, and most of them were pilgrims. Everyone quietly went up to pray one by one and muttered to themselves.

The entire mass was mainly Spanish. At the beginning, the nun led everyone to sing chants. The music had no borders and was the easiest to touch people. Even though Li Shenxing did not convert to God and was not a Catholic, he still felt the different religious atmosphere when other churches attended the mass on the pilgrimage path of Santiago Cathedral.

When Li Shenxing attended the Pilgrim Mass with hundreds of hikers, he had a sense of joy and belonging that could share happiness with everyone. This experience was really special and unforgettable.

After the Mass, people still walked out of the cathedral through the side door. It was sunset, and the small square was filled with local residents. They gathered together in groups of three or three to chat. At this moment, Li Shenxing thought he had traveled to the square of their community.

But to be honest, putting aside the Holy City and tourist attractions, Santiago de Compostela is still a very livable city.

Looking back at the cathedral in the twilight again, my mood at this time was different from when I first saw it.

The first disappointment in the afternoon was replaced by the strong sense of religion, history and incomparable solemnity of the cathedral that I felt at Mass. Whether it is exterior architecture or interior decoration, it is not as amazing as the Cathedral of Seville or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ​​and it is even less exquisite than the Burgos Cathedral, which is also on the road of pilgrimage, but its emotional resonance and spiritual connection with it is something other churches cannot give.

It used to be just a goal, an illusory vague image that only exists in the distance 800km away. Now, Li Shenxing is already standing in front of it. It is concrete, a witness to the finally fulfillment of Li Shenxing's promise, and it is also Li Shenxing's glory and pride.

For some reason, I suddenly felt tired and didn't want to go to the lively bar or restaurant. On the way back to the hotel, I went in and bought some ham and a bottle of wine when I was passing by the ham shop, and then went back to my room to celebrate the end of the pilgrimage in my own way.

The next day, because I was going to attend the Mass I missed yesterday at noon today, Li Shenxing did not wander around today. After having breakfast that was usually more than usual, he came to the square and waited to meet with Xiaohu, Dutch MM, Australian uncle and others.

It was a few minutes before the agreed ten o'clock, but everyone had already arrived in advance, so they walked towards the cathedral together. Although it started at twelve o'clock, in order to occupy a good position, the pilgrims all went there in advance.

Before the mass began, I hugged the shoulders of the statue of St. James to pray for the blessings of the little bun and the little pea. No matter what kind of faith they choose when they grow up, just remember "love"!

Mass is still in Spanish, similar to the previous evening process. The grand last scene before the end was the botafumeiro ceremony that was hard to come by - a huge incense burner swinging inside the church.

Botafumeiro is one of the largest incense burners in the world. It was cast by Spanish goldsmith José Losada in 1851. The inner layer is brass and bronze alloy. On the outside, a layer of silver is only 20 microns thick, with a shiny metallic luster. It weighs 80KG and is 1.6 meters high. The height of the swing reaches 21 meters, the left and right amplitude is 65 meters, the maximum arc can reach 82 degrees, and the speed reaches 68 kilometers per hour. Generally speaking, it will swing 17 round trips, which takes 80 seconds. Each ceremony requires 40kg of charcoal, and the cost is 250 euros!

Usually, Botafumeiro is displayed in the library of the cathedral and will be opened on important days. The rope hanging with the large incense burner is also quite powerful. The pulley installation is on the center top of the cathedral cross wing, which is the dome of the cathedral. It has been in use since 1604. The rope itself has been replaced according to the actual wear level and has been in use for 20 years. On the top of the large incense burner, several exquisite and sturdy knots are tied to ensure that no accidents occur.

Because botafumeiro will only be held on special festivals, and on weekdays, they will only perform when they encounter someone who specializes in donating them, which is very expensive. So everyone has been speculating before whether they can see it. When the eight Sixiang Tiraboleiros and incense burners appeared, the pilgrims all exclaimed in a low voice, feeling extremely lucky.

The giant incense burner slowly descended from the air. The priest lit the charcoal and incense inside. As the smoke drifted, he gently pushed to one side of the church's cross wings. With the empty echo rhythm, the large incense burner drew a slight arc. The eight priests worked together to pull the rope, and the incense burner drew a larger and larger arc until they reached a certain height. The rope was pulled hard. The incense burner suddenly rose on the original trajectory of movement, and soared back and forth between the cross wings faster and higher under the driving force of potential energy. The smoke filled the entire inner hall, and the charcoal ash flew all over the sky, and finally landed gently on the heads of every pilgrim, as if the Lord was gently caressing the hair of the believers, which was definitely the sacred moment of the Cathedral of Santiago!

The Australian uncle obviously had great experience and took everyone to occupy the corridor between the two doors of Azabachería and Praterias in advance. The smoked bottle could fly over their heads. The whole process was about 6-7 minutes, and then he hugged his friends who walked by Camino with him, silently feeling that his entire soul had been washed clean today!

After the Mass, Li Shenxing and others visited the cathedral more carefully. In addition to the statue of St. James, another popular line-up was St. James's Tomb. St. James, one of the twelve apostles, was beheaded and martyred by the Jewish King Herod while preaching in Jerusalem in 44 AD. His followers took his body across the seaweed to the Ilibyan Peninsula and buried it in Santiago. It is said that according to the instructions of a star in the sky, people found his bones and became a holy place since then.

When Li Shen walked down the narrow passage and saw the not-so-gorgeous silver box in the tomb, it was hard to believe that this was the birthplace of the pilgrimage road, which was the origin of the construction of this cathedral and even the city.

There are also the dedication crosses, around which are the sun, the moon, and the first letter of Greece, the last letter of ω. They represent the endless cycle from light to darkness, from beginning to end, from birth to death.

The pilgrimage road has no end, because the end witnesses the beginning of a new life.

The afternoon square was crowded with tour groups. The tour guide spoke with headsets and the tour guide words, while the tourists looked up at the top of the cathedral. There were also a few people in groups of three or three sitting on the stairs of the square to relax and relax in the sun, or laughing and chatting, but they couldn't tell that they were just ordinary tourists or pilgrims who had just arrived yesterday. Only pilgrims who were carrying bags, tired on their faces but couldn't control the excitement in their eyes were the easiest to identify.

Some of these pilgrims threw down their backpacks at the first time and lay directly in the center of the square to look up at the cathedral; some directly hugged and congratulated each other with the people around them, whether they knew each other or not.

After thirty days, I can't say how difficult it is, but I still have a lot of hard work, especially in the last few days, I obviously felt that my willpower began to collapse, and my feeling of fatigue suddenly reached its peak.

On the first day of arriving in San Diego, I didn’t have much sense of accomplishment or satisfaction. Instead, I just felt that I could finally calm down and finally no longer have to get up early to go on the road tomorrow, no longer have to walk under the scorching sun, and no longer have to think about where I will spend the night.

After leaving the square, Li Shenxing wandered around in the old city alone. During this period, he met many friends he met along the way. Some of them hadn't seen each other for many days, but they could meet again. They hugged each other very excitedly for a moment, and then they realized that they didn't know the other's name from beginning to end.

Camino is like a microcosm of life. Everyone starts from their own countries and embarks on the road of pilgrimage at different starting points. On the way, everyone meets, meets, talks, gets together, and then separates again. Each person is a small scene in another person's life. Now, everyone who is destined to meet again, stands side by side at the end, and faces the cathedral together.

San Diego is such a magical gathering point, which can be said to be the happiest moment for Li Shenxing along the way.

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Thanks to [Krezreal] for his monthly ticket encouragement

Thanks to [Situ Tiantian] for his reward and support
Chapter completed!