Here I Go A-Wandering: L-L-L-Lourdes!

And now the post for actually today. Lourdes is so much quieter and more peaceful than Paris! Of course I expected that, but it is very relaxing. The day started out with Christina and I ready for class at the scheduled 9am. We were the ONLY ones ready (which we expected). We went to get coffee to let the others wake up a little. This is when we discovered the commercialization that has become Lourdes. It was very much like Mont St. Michel (pilgrimage site in Northern France)...but worse! You can buy (and I did!) bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary to fill with the water from the grotto. It was only 50 centi, so I figured why not. I also was able to buy a shot glass with the scene of Bernadette and the Virgin Mary. Wow...just wow.

It really fascinates me the commercialization that has taken place in Lourdes. There are so many shops (and most of them have the same things) and the Virgin Mary is EVERYWHERE. What is very interesting though is that it is the image of the Virgin one expects to see (a young WOMAN in white with a blue sash). According to the narrative, though, Bernadette saw a young girl about the age of twelve. She was wearing a white dress with a blue sash. The only reason she was identified as the Virgin Mary was that she said in Spanish (I think? Lourdes is very close to the Spanish border and I believe at the time Bernadette spoke a form of Spanish, but I could be wrong) "I am the Immaculate Conception." What is very interesting is that local folklore at the time have stories of young spirit girls that would be dressed in white. Is it possible (like Edith Turner suggests) that what Bernadette saw was a pagan spirit and not the Virgin Mary? We will never know. BUT, what is also interesting is that Bernadette was insistent that what she saw was a YOUNG girl, yet the authorities kept trying to depict the apparition as the older version of Mary. They kept depicting her as in her 20s (or as low as 15, but always older than what Bernadette said the girl was). All the depictions of Mary here (the souvenirs as well as the paintings and statues in the church) are of what people have come to expect Mary to look like.

I also noticed that wherever you looked in the chapels (there are like three chapels right on top of each other that are also on top of the grotto) there were depictions of Bernadette with the Virgin or Bernadette with sheep (she was a shepherdess for a short period of time). They were on carvings and on the stain glass windows, as well as statues and paintings. They reinforced the narrative and was a constant reminder to the person of what happened in that location (or near to it). Harris suggests at one point that the motif of Bernadette as a literal shepherdess makes her more similar to Jesus who was a metaphorical shepherd.

I was not able to speak to any pilgrims yet. All the pilgrims I saw (and heard) did not speak English. I hope to speak to at least a few pilgrims while I am here. It is interesting that MANY are elderly or disabled (which I expected). People also fill large plastic bottles with the water from the grotto. I am curious to know what they do with it (my little Mary bottle will likely sit in my room somewhere back home collecting dust)...do they bathe in it? drink it? wash with it? These are things I would like to ask a pilgrim if/when I am able to find one that speaks English.

On a side note...I had a FANTASTIC goat cheese and duck pizza for lunch today. Yum.