EASTER ON THE CAMINO From Seville to Santiago

April 9-In a normal world, today I would be waking up in Seville at the Hotel Vinnci La Rabida.

I would be waiting to join a group of 14 pilgrims from around the US and Great Britain for an nine day tour led by Joanna Wivell, Bishop Don Carlos Lopez, the Bishop of the Spanish Episcopal Church, and myself, along the Via de la Plata, one of the lesser known routes of the Camino de Santiago.

Here in Seville the famous orange trees would be in blossom. Curiously the blossoms and the oranges are on the trees a the same time. The oranges would be scattered all over the ground. The sight and the smell would be and is unforgettable.

This Easter on the Camino-From Seville to Santiago tour was to have started in Seville on Maundy Thursday and moved each day from the south to the north along the Via de la Plata, experiencing the ancient Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter Day rites of Semana Santa in different city each night.

We would spend our days walking parts of the camino and seeing some of the cultural highlights along the way while enjoying the best hospitality Spain has to offer.

The tour, which has been cancelled due to the Corona Virus, is one of two sponsored each year by Friends of the Anglican Pilgrim Centre in Santiago, of which I am a board member. These small relatively short tours are designed to promote the Camino de Santiago while highlighting the rich heritage and culture of Spain. At the same time we offer our bus pilgrims an opportunity to walk some of the most beautiful and interesting sections of the route.

Finally, ending in Santiago de Compostela,we would share with them our dream of establishing an international pilgrim centre where pilgrims of all denominations may gather to pray, study and reflect on their recently completed pilgrimaged.

Instead, like most of you, I am sheltering in place in Rhode Island, lamenting what might have been.

However, I have walked the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago. I have also been fortunate to have witnessed Holy Week or Semana Santa in Spain three different years in four different cities.

So, this year instead of taking you to Spain, I hope you will let me bring Spain to you. I hope I can give you a glimpse of it’s majestic Semana Santa and its magical and diverse Via de la Plata and when the world is normal again, you might come and experience it for yourself.

NEXT UP: HOLY WEDNEDSAY FROM RONDA