Once again, May has come to an end (you needed me to tell you that) and we closed the 31st in the usual way, by joining the annual procession which accompanies the statue of the Madonna and Jesus from the church of San Pietro di Castello to her home base in the church of San Francesco di Paola. Even though, technically speaking, the feast of Maria Ausiliatrice is May 24, here it’s on May 31.
One small improvement in the modest lineup of boats that usually forms her escort was that Lino suggested we row a caorlina, which is noticeably bigger than the modest little mascareta we usually use. In this way, we could set up folding chairs in the boat and carry people who might have wanted to participate by floating rather than by walking.
Weather good. Crowd large and earnest. Not as many people watching from the windows as there have been in some years, but perhaps there were more on the ground.
The loudspeaker wasn’t too capricious (a plus), but for some reason the priest chose a couple of everyday hymns as part of the event, completely ignoring the hymn associated specifically with this festival (a very large minus). This is one tradition which has absolutely no need of being re-fangled.
I’m going to have to complain to the management. Just as soon as she’s back on her pedestal.