By Francisco Castillo
CANDLEMAS FILLS EL SALIENTE WITH LIGHT, TRADITION AND THE JOY OF THE LITTLE ONES
The feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the traditional Candlemas, filled the Diocesan Shrine of El Saliente with intense joy last Sunday morning. The ancient melodies of the Cuadrilla de Ánimas combined with the joy of the little ones who, after having been baptised before the Pequeñica last year, returned to the Roel to be presented to Our Lady of the Forsaken of the Good Retreat of the Saliente Coronada.
A LONG AWAITED FAMILY EVENT
All the families who decide to have their children baptised in the Sanctuary receive, in the last weeks of January, the invitation to participate in one of its most awaited festivities: the Candlemas. «Some years ago – Aurora Conchillo, one of the volunteers of the Shrine, tells us – it occurred to us to invite all the families who had baptised their children since the last Candlemas. At first they were surprised, but today the parents themselves ask us if we are going to invite them as soon as they ask us to baptise their babies. For this reason, in the new Don Bartolomé Marín hall, anecdotes and experiences of the families with the volunteers were recalled as the time for the meeting arrived. At half past twelve, the Rector thanked the parents for their presence and presented them with a medal of the Pequeñica, together with a commemorative parchment. Then, with great emotion and accompanied by their little brothers and sisters, the children were taken by their parents to the chapel of the sacred image. There, one by one, they received the blessing and were presented to Our Lady.
PROCESSION WITH THE BLESSED CANDLES
After a numerous blessing of vehicles, which, like almost every Sunday, took place on the esplanade of the Roel, the pilgrims gathered for the blessing of the candles. This rite, which has been celebrated by the Catholic Church since the 7th century, reminds the faithful of the presentation made by Our Lady and St Joseph of the infant Jesus Christ in the temple in Jerusalem. For this reason, the blessed candles are highly appreciated and many pilgrims took several to keep in their homes or to take to their sick. Armed with the blessed candles, the pilgrims marched through the galleries of the cloister to the hall that serves as a chapel until the rehabilitation of the church is completed. Whether inside or from the cloister itself, they took part in the Holy Mass and a special prayer was said for one of the recently deceased members of the cuadrilleros: Ángel. The Rector, in his homily commenting on the Sunday Gospel, addressed the families of the children and said: «Dear parents, you too, in a certain way, have exercised this gift of healing. By bringing them to be baptised, you have healed them from their distance from God, from the action of Evil in them, and you have placed them in the hands of Christ».
THE «CUADRILLA DE ÁNIMAS» RAFFLED OFF THE «TORTA DE LA VIRGEN» (CAKE OF THE VIRGIN)
After Holy Mass, around the well in the cloister, the Cuadrilla de Ánimas del Saliente delighted the pilgrims with their witty trovos. The parrandas were also present, with their inevitable popular dances. The Sanctuary, for its part, presented everyone with various typical sweets. The high point came when the Mayordomo de la Cuadrilla, Don Francisco Martínez Botella, announced the raffle of the «Torta de la Virgen» (Cake of the Virgin). With the help of the innocent hand of a little pilgrim, one of the Cuadrilla members was lucky with this cake that every year is made in Las Pocicas with a centuries-old recipe. Finally, as the period of Lent is approaching, this celebration was used to close the monumental «Belén doña María del Carmen Martínez Ruiz» which was blessed by our Bishop, Don Antonio Gómez Cantero, last Advent.