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May 30, 2005
Corpus Christi around the world
Click here for photos of various celebrations
Haiti
Spain
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
The photo is from a village near my hometown, Castrillo de Murcia, in the province of Burgos (Castile, Spain); I could be there some years ago. It's a really old celebration and has something to do with Faust's myth. A man called El Colacho (=Nicholas), who has sold his soul to the devil leaps over the children born last year (it's very exciting, specially for the mothers). He also whips the people around and cries during the Mass. At the end, he is defeated.
Maybe, you would like to some some photos I've made of the Corpus Christi procession in Santiago de Compostela.
Sorry: my English is really bad.
Posted by: Compostela at May 30, 2005 10:32:27 AM
Compostela: Your English is good.
Posted by: Dev Thakur at May 30, 2005 10:48:55 AM
It's probably the lawyer in me talking (trained to imagine everything that might possibly go wrong), but that Spanish custom sounds like a tragic accident just waiting to happen.
Posted by: mio at May 30, 2005 11:07:59 AM
I'm not a lawyer, but a journalist. I thought the same thing.
Posted by: Chris at May 30, 2005 11:41:32 AM
That picture from Haiti - wow! You'd think they saw God there in the monstrance.
Posted by: Bill White at May 30, 2005 12:32:57 PM
I've found some pages with information:
http://travelmax.statravel.co.uk/sisp/?fx=event&event_id=13472 (in English) and http://www.sasamon.org/castrillo/elcolacho.htm (in Spanish).
The Colacho flees from the Holy Sacrament and jumps over the babies; afterwards they receive the Benediction.
Posted by: Compostela at May 30, 2005 12:40:26 PM
Mio and Chris:
I suspect it is not so much your professional background, but your cultural makeup. Here in North America we see most physical risks as a "danger" and try to shun away from them, even if the risk is low and the potential benefit high. Witness some people's paranoia with share the Eucharistic cup.
It seems to me that any person in average physical shape should be able to jump over those kids, and if he doesn't, the result will likely be just a few bruises. But the whole event can deepen the spiritual strength of the people involved.
Keep in mind that the person doing the jumping has not really sold his soul, but is well aware of what is happening and concerned about the welfare of the children. Oh, and there are no bulls chasing him.
Does that mean that accidents will never happen? No, but that their likelihood is so low that we (and the kids' mothers) need not loose any sleep over it.
Posted by: Roberto at May 30, 2005 2:17:09 PM
What Roberto said.
I was at the park yesterday with our 4 children. Three of them were on swings and the other (a VERY rambunctious 4-year-old boy) was on the slide. Other kids/parents approached and the kids started to use the slide. I was at the swings for awhile, and when I walked back to the slide area, I noticed my boy coming down the slide tangled with a 2-3 year old girl in front of him; she landed on her head and was fine (he's done this kind of thing with his 2-year-old sister many times - she has sustained only minor damage). One of the dads yelled at me to calm my kid down. Then one of the moms said that there had been a few accidents (I almost asked: "yeah, where's the evidence"?). I was very very irritated, but thought that perhaps I was in the wrong, until I heard one of the moms yelling at her child to NEVER go down the slide head-first.
What? Then I knew the truth.
Stupid foofy parents, including the dad, oddly.
I can understand mom worrying about that kind of thing, but dad? Be a man, dad! Teach your children how to deal with life. Going down slides head-first and otherwise risking moderate injury are things that children are supposed to do. It's normal.
I remember worrying about this a little when our older kids would get pummled by other children, but I responded by teaching them how to deal with it without major injuries. I didn't go and yell at the other parents. After all, what are our kids supposed to do when we aren't there? Probably get the crap kicked out of them because their overbearing parents are finally absent.
Posted by: Troll at May 30, 2005 5:34:12 PM
More:
We live in a small western town in which people who drive think it is polite to stop their cars in the middle of the street if there is the slightest hint that a pedestrian will cross, even when there is no crosswalk. Consequently, peds have learned to stroll out into the street, head in the clouds, regardless of the situation. It is difficult in this situation to teach our children wait until the car goes away, even if the person seems to be waiting for you. They are safer, we tell them, when the car is absent.
Additionally, many here seem to think that if you wear a bike helmet, you can behave however you want and it will come out ok.
I allow our children to go with or without helmets, unless the siuation requires their use. (Attention docs and nurses, I've heard all the horror stories, spare me please. If I listened to you people all time, I'd never get out of bed in the morning for fear of the world).
I don't want my kids to become safety nazis and berate their friends who don't wear helmets.
Posted by: Troll at May 30, 2005 5:45:33 PM
And:
I find it odd that so many parents are overwhelmingly concerned for their childrens physical well-being and could care less about their spiritual life. Would you rather have you kid become a smoker or have lots of extra-marital sex? Smoking is not pleasent, but which is the greater danger, long-term?
Which is worse, not wearing a bike helmet, of treating others like dirt because they choose not to?
Ok, sorry about the rant, but we seem to be raising a particularly un-vigorous generation.
I'm with Amy on the blood and guts saint stories. We read that stuff (and Grimms, etc) to our kids - their cousins seem repulsed by it. Our kids are amazed by St. Sebastian and the arrows.
Too bad he wasn't wearing a bike helmet.
Soon we will need walking helmets.
Posted by: Troll at May 30, 2005 5:56:18 PM
What's Michael Jackson doing in Spain?
Posted by: Dudley at May 30, 2005 6:59:36 PM
Santiago, ¿eres castellano pero ya vives in Galicia? Mi abuelo era gallego, de Couxela, Lugo (cerca de Ribadeo). He regresado una vez para visitar familia.
Ahorita me fije que tienes tu propio blog; voy a leerlo.
Posted by: mayangrl at May 30, 2005 7:10:48 PM
One more thing,
The community knows it's own. Somebody who can't deliver in the clutch, like Chris Webber, isn't going to be allowed to jump over those kids. They'll pick somebody like the local Tim Duncan or Shaq, somebody who will deliver. I know, bad analogy, because they don't make EVERY shot. All the same, that guy has lots of extra clearance.
Also, in playing with our kids, I have found myself suspended in air over them many times, and yet always manage to avoid landing on them.
So mio and Chris, all of life is a tragic accident waiting to happen. Go out and take a risk.
Posted by: Troll at May 30, 2005 7:50:45 PM
The risk aversive nature of North American society has become pathological. Had our forefathers felt the same way, there would have been no progress, no exploration of the New World, no settling of the American West, and on and on. We are tragically raising a generation of fearful, anxious, sissified young people who are unable to function without being medicated, placed in therapy or some sort of meaningless structure. Utterly pathetic.
Posted by: Marco the Triumphalistic apist at May 30, 2005 10:12:31 PM
