Personification of Faith

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and I had a chance to attend service last night for the imposition of the ashes and I wanted to share this picture. This picture, like my last post, was also taken in Spain at a celebration of Corpus Christi. When traveling during the summer of 2005 I had a very open schedule and went wherever looked interesting. My family had all recommended a visit to Toledo, Spain so on my way back up to France I stopped by for an afternoon visit. The town itself is nifty, but everything was covered in flowers and banners for a celebration. Traveling on my own for several weeks I had kind of lost track of the calendar and didn't know that the next day was Corpus Christi. I asked around and found a very nice shop keeper who spoke no English but with my small amount of the related Italian I was able to piece together that the next day at 10 AM there was going to be a large procession/parade through town. So I found a room outside of town for the night and was back in town very early to get a good spot for pictures. It was a wonderful experience and very moving to see the entire city join in a shared celebration of faith. I took many pictures that morning of the pageantry and I am sure a few more will appear here over time. This one, however, is the one I am most proud of. This was one many groups of nuns monks who were a part of the procession. I took several shots with a wider field of view but this close focus on her hands and the rosary seems to me to be a personification of faith. I love the very real hands and if you look closely you can see her about to move the bead forward with her thumb nail showing that she is actively praying.