Unravelling the Mystery of Santiagos Virgen del Carmen

Santiago de la Ribera, Virgen del Carmen

July 2012. This next week is the celebration of the Virgen del Carmen, the patrona of fishermen. This report below was published following the celebration in Santiago de la Ribera last year. Programmes for this years celebrations will be published in the What's on section.

This weekend the celebrations of the Virgen del Carmen took place across the Region of Murcia, with not only celebrations on-land, but also what are called Maritime processions taking place.

The history of devotion to the Virgen del Carmen goes way back  in history, 300 years before Christ was even born, to Galilea, and to a mountain called the Carmelo, the Hebrew word for garden.

The story goes that in 300 BC a great drought threatened the livelihood of all those living in the area, and the holy men living on the mountain, amongst them the Prophet Elias,  joined with those praying for rain. Whilst praying on the mountain top he saw a vast white cloud which came from the sea and rose into the air, bringing the much longed for rain.

Elias interpreted this as being a sign of the coming of a saviour, who would be conceived from a virgin and would bring a rain of blessings. From then on, the community dedicated itself to praying for the mother of the redeemer, and for her arrival, the result of which was the emergence of the Carmelites, whose devotion was to our Lady of Carmen, the Virgen del Carmen.

The day of 16th July as being the day of the Virgen del Carmen is actually due to an Englishman, a man called Simon Stock who founded various monasteries dedicated to the cult of the Virgen del Carmen across Europe in the 13th century.

On the 16th July 1251, the Virgen is said to have appeared to him holding a scapular in her hands, saying the words: Let this be a sign and privilege for you and for all Carmelites: whoever dies, using the scapular will never suffer eternal fire.

A scapular, for non Catholics, is a piece of cloth worn by religious orders, having originated as an apron, but is also a devotional item consisting of two small pieces of cloth, or laminated paper joined by two longer pieces of cloth, normally bearing religious texts.

Both bring promises for those who wear them.

So that´s why her day is the 16th July.

By the Middle ages the Virgen del Carmen had become known as the "Estrella del Mar"  the star of the sea, of particular significance for sailors who are guided by the stars of the sea. The Virgen became associated as the star who guides us through the difficult waters of life to safe port, the port being the love of Christ.

By the 18th century the cult of the Virgen del Carmen was widespread in Spain and towards the end of the 18th century, the Spanish Admiral Antonio Barceló Pont de la Terra ( 1716- 1797) decided to change the patronship of Spanish sailors from that of Saint Telmo for that of the Virgen del Carmen.

You´ll often find a "Barrio del Carmen" in Spanish cities, a district named in her honour, and it´s normal for there to be a celebration of some sort in any Barrio del Carmen on the 16th July.

Here in the region of Murcia, the acts of homage to the Virgen del Carmen began in 1792, so the celebrations which took place last weekend all relate to this long sequence of events.

Whilst San Pedro del Pinatar lays the claim to being the biggest and best known Virgen del Carmen maritime procession, events took place in many locations , including San Javier, more specifically, Santiago de la Ribera.

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We actually went to Santiago de la Ribera to unravel a mystery.

The Barrio of El Carmen in San Javier is nowhere near the sea, and as part of the Fiestas include acts of devotion to the Virgen we had worked out that there was a Virgen in El Carmen, but been unable to find out at what point the figure of the Virgen stopped being in her church in the Barrio of El Carmen and appeared in Santiago de la Ribera in the church of Santiago ready to head off for her sea trip.  

Fearful that we might have been missing a crucial procession out of the itinery, and failing to find the info required from anyone on the end of a phone,  we had decided there was only one way to get to the bottom of the mystery, and that was to go to the celebration this year and try to track down this missing information.

However, talking to a retired fisherman on Sunday morning, we discovered that the clever Spanish have a simple solution to the problem by having two figures of the Virgen del Carmen in the same municipality

Luckily for us, we got there for 9am mass, and discovered the second Virgen who spends all year in the little church of Santiago de la Ribera down by the seafront.

If you´ve never been inside, try and have a look one day, it contains the most glorious mosaic alter, and stained glass windows, a true surprise as it is very unprepossessing from outside.

So unlike San Pedro del Pinatar, where the Virgen is carried quite a long distance to the seafront , in Santiago de la Ribera a  second Virgen only has to be  carried a very short distance onto the boat, so that was the mystery solved.

Following mass, a group of residents dressed as fisherwomen, parade out of the church, accompanied by the band, with the Virgen herself, carried aloft on the shoulders of the fishermen.

It´s only a short walk to the jetty where she is loaded onto one of the boats which runs pleasure trips from the jetty, accompanied by as many people as can cram onto the boat, including important local dignitaries.

The boat then sails to Lo Pagán, accompanied by a flotilla of pleasure and fishing boats, all gaily decked out with bunting and flowers, stuffed full of people enjoying a trip out, many of them sharing a few beers with friends and having a good time.

When we said that we´d never actually been out on a sea procession, our informant called over the local policeman ( who called him alcalde, mayor) and informed them that we would like to accompany the Virgen, so we were sent down to inspect the boats, and waved onto a boat by the policeman´s companion who was guarding the jetty to make sure that only those who were meant to be on a boat got on, and found ourselves heading out to sea with everyone else, enjoying the band, the sea breeze and just being part of this experience.

Having arrived at Lo Pagán, greeted by an effusive welcome of Cohetes, the boats all joined together, switched off their engines and the Priest who had accompanied the Virgen prayed for the deceased, all the boat occupants casting flowers into the water in an act of commemoration.

If you have a motorised boat, join in with a marine procession next year, it´s actually a thoroughly enjoyable and quite emotional experience. All sizes of boats were accompanying the Virgen on this journey, although the canoeists who had turned up didn´t get much further out than about 100 metres before they had to give up as the motorised boasts powered off without them.

Safely back on land, the Virgen was paraded back into the church, accompanied by her band and fisherwomen, for the religious service to conclude, and for those of us who were thoroughly windswept and had forgotten this was actually work, to enjoy an ice cream on the Explanada and fruitlessly try to photograph the parrots making a racket in the palm trees lining the seafront.

So next year, if you know someone with a boat, encourage them to fill a coolbox with ice and beers, borrow a bit of bunting and tow it down to the seafront to join in with a maritime parade on July 16th.