We have power again!

Due to the hurricane-force winds on the island of Iona today we lost power for about 8 hours.  We survived though!  It was a good day spent relaxing.  I played scrabble with Jessica, Ally, and Ibrahim (a Frenchman at the hostel).  Of course the non-native English speaker won.  How does that work??


Well here is what I wrote for today while stuck inside with no power:

It is a very good thing we were not planning on leaving Iona today.  It would not have been possible.  There are some very strong winds blowing.  The ferry is not running and we have lost power.  I hope that by tomorrow the ferry will be running again.

I have discussed in previous blogs about the merchandise both on Iona and in Lourdes.  I believe I mentioned about the man we met in Lourdes who said that the merchandise is a way for the pilgrims to bring back a piece of Lourdes to those at home who were unable to go on the pilgrimage.  Cintra Pemberton, in her book Soulfaring: Celtic Pilgrimage Then and Now, argues something else for the reason for all the trinkets and souvenirs.  She argues that the souvenirs pilgrims (and tourists) bring back is proof that they were there.  It shows evidence (other than photos) that they made the journey.  Pemberton also states that this is not a new phenomenon (well the photo part of it is).  On page 41 she states “today cameras and film for snapshots proliferate, but the medieval pilgrims, lacking photographic equipment, either wore special badges, brooches, pins, or medals or carried small flasks or ampullae to validate their journeys.”  She also says that specific places had specific symbols so that those familiar with the symbols would know that the person wearing the symbol went on the pilgrimage.  There is a site in Spain that has a scallop shell associated with the pilgrimage to that location.  These tokens and souvenirs made me think of my own journeys (and even the pilgrimage on Iona).  Whenever I go someplace new I like to collect shot glasses (and most recently I like to pick up a cross that I can put on my wall if I find one that is interesting).   And I won’t just buy the first shot glass I see.  It has to say the name of the place in order for me to get it.  I do not have one from Glasgow because I could only find shot glasses that said “Scotland” on them.  That wasn’t enough.  I wanted one that said “Glasgow” to prove that I was at that city.  The shot glasses are my evidence to show I was there.  I traveled the distance and this was what I brought back home with me.  Along those lines, the rock I am bringing back with me from St. Columba’s Bay is evidence I went on that specific pilgrimage.  To most people, it is just a rock.  It will likely collect dust on my desk and not be moved until it gets packed into a box when I move to another place to live.  However, anytime I look at that rock I will be reminded of the journey I took to get that rock.  I will remember the rain, the wind, and the miles of walking I did in order to get that specific rock.  It may just look like an ordinary rock to someone else, but it has deep, special meaning to me.

Pemberton also suggests that the souvenirs people purchase at the gift shop associated with holy sites may have the same draw today for people as holy relics had for medieval people.  Holy relics used to draw people (and sometimes still do) to a site.  People went to the site because of the relic of a saint.  I do find it interesting to look at relics in churches that I go to, but the skeptic in me always wonders, how do we really know that that is a piece of St. So-and-so’s hair, or that chain was really used to hold down St. Paul?  But, I guess that is part of the faith associated with the relics.  Back to the souvenirs, though.  Pemberton states that people spend more time in gift shops than at the site they came to visit.  We are a materialistic culture.  What draws people to a site sometimes can be what they can take back.  I must admit, I am sometimes disappointed when I make a journey to someplace (whether it be a Spanish mission in southern Arizona when I lived only a few hours away or a European cathedral that required several hours on a plane to get there) and there is no gift shop.  I feel jipped (sp??) that I came all that way and I have nothing to prove that I was there (especially if I did not bring my camera with me).  So if I were relate that to the relics of medieval times, if a person made the journey to a place thinking there would be a relic there (either permanently or temporarily) and it was not, they would be disappointed and have the same (ok maybe not exactly the same) feeling I do when there is no gift shop.  It may be a stretch, but I think it works.