Post by Charlie: Holy week. This was our bane when we were planning the trip because things were full and prices higher. We were thinking about going to Granada after Toledo but Granada is packed and expensive during Semana Santa so we went east where we we thinking they were less devout.
But it has turned out to be very nice. We have enjoyed the processions and going to Palm Sunday services. So on Easter, we thought we would go to Easter services. We showed up at the big cathedral around 10:30 for the service at 11 and no one was around. We had coffee at the “Arc” which our guidebook said is the only cafe in Girona with a cathedral on its terrace (photo below). We didn’t see many people going in but went up again a few minutes before 11. There was a service but it was not as well-attended as I would have expected for such a large cathedral, maybe 150 people were there and another 100 straggled in as it went on.
On Palm Sunday we were standing around the edges and moving around the big cathedral but this time we went and sat in the pews like I used to do on Sundays back in Duluth. They didn’t stint on the priests though, they had three alter-boys, five priests and the bishop (or possibly arch-bishop, I guess I could google it but what does it matter?) He had the golden bishop’s hat and a big scepter and looked good. He seemed a little friendlier than the archbishop of Toledo who had kind of a severe look about him. Maybe he was practicing for his portrait in the cathedral when he retired.
They had a lot of incense and were swinging it around all the time creating clouds of smoke that made me think of the smoke machines they use on Dancing with the Stars. They started by all proceeding up the aisle and it was pretty impressive. Then in the middle they all went down the aisle and the bishop was using the wand-like thing they use to sprinkle holy water on the people. People who grew up Catholic will remember these. As he was coming by and sprinkling I was thinking of the Buffy episode where she tricked the crazy vampire into drinking holy water when her Slayer powers had been temporarily lost due to Giles’ magic crystal (in a Slayer competency test, long story). I thought of the wonderful mish-mash that is our popular culture. Josh Whedon, the Catholic Church, they are all in the business of telling a good story, and they are all very good at it.
So we enjoyed the service both weeks. Maybe I’ll join those people who convert or go back to Catholicism in later life: Tony Blair, Newt Gingrich, Anne Rice,… But then Anne Rice converted back out again, I have to say I have respect for her following her beliefs.
But these were definitely the largest churches I have ever attended services at. The Girona one has the longest nave in Europe and it, like all the cathedrals is really, really tall. There was a lot of “my church is bigger, taller, wider than your church” going on over the centuries. But the result is some very cool looking churches.
