174/365 Corpus Christi Day

Today is a high religious holiday for Catholics. "Corpus Christi" is the feast day on which we celebrate the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is usually done with a procession, in which the consecrated host is carried through the streets, to make the presence of Christ visible to all. If the weather is fine, the preceding mass may also be held open-air. After the procession, the host is brought back into the church and the faithful receive a blessing with it - that last part of the ceremony is particularly filled with joyful solemnity.

I'm spending the holiday weekend at my parents, and as there's no procession in our village here, we went into town, where a service was held in the market place.

We were lucky with the weather - it's been raining off and on for the past few days, but this morning was dry and mostly sunny - lucky, because with rain, the open-air service and procession would have been cancelled (I do have to admit that Catholics in Germany tend to be a bit wimpy about the weather). As it was, everything could take place as planned. The service was lovely and it was nice to have a procession at all, though it was short and there was no decoration in the streets - quite a good turn-out of people attending, though, I thought.

I took a few pics, but most are blurry or just show the backs of people in front of me. :P

Here is the procession setting out: a priest and deacon with the ostensory (showcase for the consecrated host) getting under the canopy. :)