Day 23-Día de Corpus Christi

Día de Corpus Christi-- We arose at 6:30am to leave for church, at the Cathedral and get a good seat. The day of Corpus Christi is a feast day that is celebrated in Seville as well as other Roman Catholic countries- including Poland. Corpus Christi is Latin for Body of Christ. It does not commemorate a particular event in Jesus’ life but celebrates the Body of Christ, consecrated in the mass. Mass today at the Cathedral was just about tow hours. It was quite the sight. This feast day is usually held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. The significance of being on a Thursday is meant to associate it with Jesus of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. It not so much about the real presence of Christ in the consecrated elements of bread and wine, it is about the institution of the Eucharist, so Corpus Christi is observed after the fifty days of Easter are over.

There were many rituals to this holiday, In particular the procession. The streets are lined with different herbs and pine branches so the whole city smells like cooking and Christmas. And then a procession of thousands of people with candles, immaculate floats with statues and flowers line and walk down the streets followed by the Blessed Sacrament in the most beautiful tabernacle type chamber at the end. It was a wonderful procession and sight to see. I am very happy that I was able to go to a mass in the Cathedral too.

Following the procession, we went and had coffee, churros (which were as big as sausages!) and chocolate with Chata and headed home afterwards. Both of us were sooo tired that we closed our eyes for a bit before lunch and slept after lunch too. It was just a late night of homework and an early morning too, we needed the siesta before we started our long day of studying. The rest of the day was strictly devoted to studying and more studying. Finally it was 1am and it was time for bed.