Processions Are For Teaching and Learning

Dating back to the middle ages, Spain's Holy Week processions have always been tools for teaching.  As the gigantic religious floats (pasos) were carried through the medieval streets, people who were largely illiterate could see the Biblical stories come to life before their eyes.  In today's world of television, Internet and multimedia, the tradition of carrying the pasos continues. However, while the pasos continue to illustrate the traditional stories, the processions have evolved into tools of "active learning."  Active learning is defined as learning by doing.

Children and entire families now participate in the processions.  The traditional Brotherhoods, some hundreds of years old, actively welcome women and children to march with them.  For the children, it is a learning experience that allows them to become part of the story.

Holy Tuesday's (martes santo) Procession of Forgiveness (Procesión de Perdón) in León was at 6:45 p.m.  This was early enough that more children could be involved.

The Procession of Forgiveness is both traditional and very modern.  (You can click on images in this blog for a closer view.  Use the "escape" or "esc" key to return to a normal view.)

A young participant.

This girl is in traditional Spanish dress.

Even today, viewing a Centurion in a relatively authentic costume is a learning experience.

Even the child in the baby carriage is dressed in traditional penitent robes.

The lady pushing the baby carriage, presumably the mother, marches with bare feet, a true display of penance and devotion.

A girl munches on an oblea as she greets those along the route.  An oblea is two thin wafers filled with a sweet, sticky paste similar to caramel. 

This boy is obviously very pleased to participate in the procession.

This girl's pigtails fall from under her hood.

Despite all the children I've shown you, adults also learn from the experience.  Tonight at midnight, I will wear the hood and robes of the Brotherhood of the Seven Words of Christ on the Cross to march in the Solemne Via Crucis Procesional (Processional of the Way of the Cross.)  For me, that will certainly be a learning experience which I will report to you tomorrow.

I will be blogging about Holy Week from León and much more in the upcoming days.  If you would like to follow along and receive a notification when a new post appears, please subscribe by clicking here and entering your email address.

You can view my fine art photography website at:  www.tombellart.com.

This blog has been named one of the top 75 fine art photography blogs on the planet.

My Photography Year in Review - 2017

2017 has been another good year for my photography.  On January 1st, I will have been retired from my position as a college administrator for two years. My retirement has certainly given me more time for photography.

This year, I traveled to Greece, Turkey, and Spain.  I'm currently writing this post from Guatemala.

Here are a few of my favorite images I've taken in 2017.

Medieval and Modern - This image is from León, Spain. In the background in the city's famed Gothic cathedral. In the foreground is a mural on the side of a building.  Somehow they work together.  This image can be seen in the Shrode Gallery at the Mitchell Museum in Mt. Vernon, Illinois through the end of the year. (You can click on all images in this blog for a larger view.)

This Orthodox priest was resting with his dog at the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonas on the Island of Tilos.

The Priest in black &white

Old wooden Greek fishing boats,called kaikis, are quickly disappearing as the days of the lone fisherman are giving way to large-scale industrial fishing.

Glandular Globe-Thistles grown on rocky outcroppings throughout the Agean.

A man enjoys the view.

Here, you've seen a few of my photographs from 2017.  There's still a few days left in the year, so there may be more.  However, check out my blog on December 31 for my special New Year's Eve entry.

You can view my fine art photography website at: www.tombellart.com.

This blog has been named one of the top 75 fine art photography blogs on the planet.

The Miracle in León's Cathedral

I don't know if the miracle was designed by man, or by God.  I also don't know if it occurs daily at a certain hour, or if it is a truly rare event. I'm not even sure if it is well-known, or something I discovered by accident through my photography.  I am sure, however, that it is amazing.

It was not mentioned in the pre-recorded audio handset tour of  León's Cathedral, and I can find no source for it on the Internet.  My Mother-in-Law, a native of León, was also not familiar with it.

I'm sure that no one noticed it while on the Cathedral tour, including me, or there would have been "ooohs" and "ahhhs."  It was not until today, when I reviewed the photographs I had taken two days previously that it literally came to light. But there it was on the very last frame I shot while in the interior of the Cathedral.




This is not the photo in question, but it will help you understand what you are seeing later on.  I shot this photograph of the main alter earlier in the self-guided tour. In the Cathedral, there are 737 stained glass windows, covering 1,800 square meters.  They're very difficult to photograph without a tripod and special equipment, which aren't allowed. The Cathedral is sometimes referred to as the "House of Light" because of the unique quality given to it by the stained glass. 
(You can click on the photographs in this blog for a closer view.)



The exterior of the Cathedral as it captures the warmth of the sun at the end of the day.

The rosette or rose windows of the Cathedral are known as some of the most spectacular in the world.  Most of the stained glass throughout the church is original from the 13th through 15th centuries  An exterior photograph gives viewers little idea of what they will see on the inside.



An interior view of one of the rosettes.


When I shot the final photographs before leaving the Cathedral, I purposely made them very dark to ensure that I captured the brilliant colors of the stained glass without washing them out.  While it obscured the interior details of the church, the glass shone brilliantly.  There was also something else I didn't expect.



While it seems impossible, a rosette from all the way across the Cathedral (at the main entrance of the Chruch) is perfectly projected onto the ribbed arches of the vault in the rear of the Cathedral, directly above the main alter.  It maintains its shape, colors and focus as it sits above the stained glass windows, perfectly in the center of the vault.  At first, I thought that I had accidently made a double exposure, which is very difficult to do by accident.  But the camera data shows that this is a single photograph.   It is the last exposure I made before exiting the church.  The rosette is much more visible in the photograph than it would have been to the eyes of those in the church because of its extreme underexposure.  Go back to the first photo in this post to see the same vault several minutes earlier without the projectied rosette.

A close-up of the projected rosette.

Is it possible that Gothic artists from the 13th century had the knowledge of optics, physics, and the engineering skills to purposely make a rose window project onto a distant wall?  Is this an accident of light, construction, and optics that was never planned?  Or is it a testament to the miracles that can happen when you're ready to see them? 

If anyone is familiar with this extreme effect of light in the "House of Light," please send me the details and I will post them.  Otherwise, you can still post your thoughts and opinions below in the comments section.

You can view my website at:  www.tombellart.com.
 

Holy Week in León -- Family, Tradition & Food

Holy Week in León is an event -- a family affair -- something that cannot be ignored. It is a week filled with ancient and modern traditions. Thousands, sometimes ten of thousands spill into the streets to witness some of the thirty-six processions conducted during the ten days of Holy Week. While some processions are small with only a few hundred participants, others are huge, with several thousand people marching through the streets in traditional costumes, some bearing gigantic religious floats (pasos), others playing musical instruments or simply playing their part by marching along.

Those who march in the processions are of all ages.  This younger participant
is on the way to the Church of Santa Nonia, where he will take part in the three hour
Procesión de la Pasión along with three thousand other marchers.  (You

can click on images for a larger view.)

Children proudly pose in front of the Church of Santa Nonia before the procession.

An hour before the procession, members of the brotherhood are already taking their places around the early 17th century paso.

A Lady prepares for the procession in the loft of the Church.

  

One of the three pasos dates to the 16th century.

 Crowds stand for more than an hour to view the three pasos leave the church.  Most processions, like this one are at night.

About two hours into the procession, the float still has about an hour to go before it returns to the Church of Santa Nonia.  The Baroque detail is typical of the 17th century.

Detail from the 17th century paso.  A cherub helps bear the weight of

Christ carrying the cross.

After a procession ends at ten or eleven at night, sometimes later, participants spill into the bars and restaurants for drinks and tapas. Bars in Spain are family-friendly, but are open through the wee hours of the morning.



A glass of wine accompanied by a cup of garlic soup as a tapa at the Camarote Madrid helps to warm one up after a procession.  Note the variety of olives in the background.  They are also excellent tapas.

As Holy Week in León progresses, I'll have more insight and more images during the upcoming days.  If you missed yesterday's overview of Holy Week in  León, you can find it here.

You can view my website at www.tombellart.com.



More Venetian Carnival Masks

I've had time to look at a few more of the photos I took in Europe this summer.  I thought I'd share a few more of the Venetian Carnival masks I had the opportunity to photograph while in Venice.

You can view my website at:  www.tombellart.com.

Ponte Vecchio, a great bridge to photograph

 The Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy is often on the list of the world's greatest bridges.  Crossing the Arno River, it's much as it was in Medieval times. There are jewelry shops and curio dealers all along the bridge.  Make you own photograph if you're ever in Florence!

You can visit my website at:  www.tombellart.com.

Illinois Girl Saves Historic Italian Landmark

At the end of June, my family and I traveled to Pisa, Italy.

This obvious photograph is the forced perspective view of  my daughter holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa (She should be given a medal by the Italian government for ensuring that this historic landmark didn't bite the dust).

Cristina, uprights a 500 year-old wrong in Pisa, Italy.

She corrected the lean so that the tower now stands straight for the first time in 500 years.  You can view my website at:  www.tombellart.com.

You can view my website at:  www.tombellart.com.