Stage Ten - Ciruena to Villamayor del Rio

22 km

October 16, 2011

Chin Chin!

 

My Beer Angel



This morning I started out walking  with four other pilgrims. This is the first day I have done that since my first day in SJPP. We all walked the first 6 km of the day to Santa Domingo de la Calabaza, strung out in a line or some times in twos to talk. Once there, Martina, Hans and Karola went off for a huge breakfast at the Parador Hotel beside the Cathedral Santa Domingo. Getti and I opted for a coffee and pastery at a small bar and off we went to explore the Cathedral. It was very impressive with 12th to 18th century additions, chapels, gold altarpieces, and the Mausoleum with crypt of Saint Domingo, who dedicated his life to serve the pilgrims. It also housed a hen-house with live chickens in it. It is based on a miracle and it goes like this....

The Miracle of the Cock and the Hen

The story goes that in the 14 th century, a German 18-year old named Hugonell, from Xanten, goes on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with his parents. A Spanish girl at the hostel where they were staying falls in love with him; Hugonell denies her advances. Angry at this, the girl hides a silver cup in the German's bag and informs the authorities that the young man has taken it. Hugonell is sentenced to death in the gallows, in accordance with the laws of Alfonso X of Castile.

Mourning the death of his son, the parents sadly decide to examine their son's body, still hanging on the gallows, but suddenly they hear his voice. He tells them that Santo Domingo de la Calzada has kept him alive.

His parents quickly go to see the magistrate in order to announce that the miracle has taken place. The magistrate, who is at the time eating dinner remarks: "Your son is as alive as this cock and hen that I am about to eat". And in that moment, the two birds jump from the plate and begin to sing and crow happily.

So the famous verse:

"SANTO DOMINGO DE LA CALZADA, WHERE THE HEN CROWS AFTER BEING ROASTED"

In the cathedral of Santo Domingo a hen house worked in stone can be seen. In it, there is always a live cock and hen.



The live chichens



Gerti and I walked all day together. It was great as we would stop for a beer every time we went through a town. We had walked ahead of Martina as she wished to spend time in the cathedral after her big breakfast. We walked all day hoping to stay in Viloria, in an albergue associated with Paulo Coelho, my favourite writer. He walked the camino and wrote a book called “Pilgrimage”. When we arrived we discovered it had closed for the season, two days prior.

Oh well...on to the next town. 3 ½ km away. We arrived at Villamajor del Rio and by now were miles ahead of Martina. She decided to stay a couple of towns behind us.

The albergue was a nice private one. Gerti and I got a room to ourselves as only 5 pilgrims showed up.  This one had nice hot showers I remember. A rare thing on the camino.  We met two Japanese pilgrims and Hans was there too. He offered to wash Gerti and my boots. What a nice thing to do!

We drank wine in the garden and got to know our Japanese friends. We suspect the young girl was a student of geisha taking a three month break and the older man in his 60’s was a widower. They had just met a few days before. She took small tiny little steps and she had 3 months to complete the walk. She would only walk a few kilometres a day and had quite a cleansing routine. She also laughed at my stories and said..”You funny Cheryl!”

At the lovely pork chop dinner, we all got our allotment of wine. We began discussing different ways to say cheers! The Japanese girl said in Italian they say chin chin. The Japanese man looked stunned. When she left the table he said. Chin Chin in Japanese means ...and he pointed down at his crotch area. Gerti and I thought that was extremely funny so would always toast with chin chin..and then say quietly..penis, penis and giggle. I have looked it up and indeed chin chin is a toast but not necessarily Italian. The Italian toast is cin cin. And in fact chin chin is a Japanese slang term for the male penis. I can’t end on that word so I will close this blog by saying I took lots of pictures today.