A couple of weeks ago, I walked into a shop and was stunned to find a mini-botafumeiro replica – the exact same botafumeiro that’s in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (click here to read that blog post). I felt compelled to know the story behind why that mini-botafumeiro was in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, so I went back last weekend in the hopes of finding the person who brought the little thing from NW Spain to NW USA.
I asked one of the gentlemen working if he knew about the magical lantern collection in this store. He said that they were the owner’s lanterns and he would provide what insight he could. Then we walked over to the lantern case and I pointed out the mini-botafumeiro to him.
“Oh yeah, you know, I think that one is from Turkey, actually. The owner who collects these lanterns just got back from Turkey so I bet its from there,” he said.
I didn’t want to be rude, but in my mind I was thinking “mmm… that is INCORRECT, my friend!” What I said was “well, actually, that is actually a symbol of an ancient 500-mile long pilgrimage in Spain…”
He admitted he was totally guessing and we both had a good laugh for a couple of minutes about it. But alas – still no story behind the mini-botafumeiro yet, but I am one step closer to figuring it out.
More to come in the Botafumeiro Diaries! Until then – ¡Buen Camino!