Pilgrims Mass in Santiago

Everyday at noon and at 7:30 on Fridays there is a special mass held for pilgrims in the cathedral in Santiago. At the Friday night mass they end the service with a swinging of the butofumeria, a huge incense pot, the entire width of the cathedral. It takes 8 men to get it going and it flies overhead, dousing the stinky pilgrims with incense. I heard that we should get there early, but we arrived an hour before to find all the seats already taken. I scooted around to find a place to stand that still had a view of the altar area.

Although there were seats for 1000, I'm sure there were at least twice that many crammed into every place available. Since the mass was all in Spanish, I kind of checked out mentally. It was really great to be there with all of the pilgrims, but also kind of annoying that a majority of the seats were reserved for tourists and others of privilege rather than those of us who had walked 800km. 

I was standing next to some pilgrims that I recognized but not my closet Camino friends. When people started moving around for communion I made my way over to my friend Max. We stood together for the big swing of the butofumeria. It was a good way to finish off the Camino.