Salvador Rodríguez Becerra.
Corpus Christi in Andalusia: “from a festival of power to a festival of identity”
Currently, and perhaps always, partly due to a lack of knowledge and maybe also due to the desire to value our own particular ways above those alien to us, we tend to consider certain cultural or ritual characteristics as being unique and exceptional. Due to this, we forget the basic cultural unit of all the towns of the Iberian Peninsula, and possibly those of Europe, since the Romanisation, later strengthened by Christianity, which recreated an institution that was more virtual than real, in the form of the Carolingian and Germanic empires, and furthered the unity of all Christians, under the leadership of Rome and the papacy. I am aware that with the passage of time, geographic and historic diversity has given rise to situations that have diversified culture, which was already diverse prior to the attempts toward unification of the papal empire; therefore, to explain the specific realities it is necessary to go from general to specific and vice versa. This is what we have done in this text, limiting ourselves to Andalusia, and more specifically, to some of the cities and towns, without forgetting the Castilian and Spanish context in which they occur.
This historic dialectic between uniformity and cultural diversity in which we will move in this text can be illustrated with two examples that are closely related to the aforementioned rituals concerning the two cities which for us are the referents of this course: Toledo, the city where this meeting is taking place, and Seville, the city where I live and study. It was at the episcopal seat of Isidore of Seville where the ecclesiastic ritual known as the Gothic-Isidorian ritual, later called Mozarabic, arose; it then spread throughout almost all the peninsular kingdoms, later being called Toledan, as it was at this seat where it was followed most intensely, and still is. In the 11th century, influenced by Cluny, the decision of Gregory VII -who fought throughout his life for the pre-eminence of the papacy- this rite was abolished and was replaced by the Roman-Gallican ritual for Castile. Later, when in the 13th century the ecclesiastical chapter of the church of Toledo was established -or, according to some, re-established- this would be the model to be followed in that of Seville, which in turn would be the model for the cathedral churches of America. With this background we can hardly talk about originality and uniqueness, although we cannot forget the continued development and processes of change and adaptation occurring in the social units in new environmental and socio-cultural contexts (Guichot and Sierra, 1935:410).
The feast of Corpus Christi was established for the Catholic world in 1264 by pope Urban IV, generalising the cult of the Sacrament founded by Saint Juliana (1193-1258) in the diocese of Liege, and the miracle of the blood-stained corporal of Bolsena (1263). The pope entrusted Thomas Aquinas with the writing of the mass for the new festival; in the Summa Theologica he had already defended the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The procession of the sacred host and the octave was configured by John XXII (1366-1334). From then on, the feast spread throughout western Europe, first to the great episcopal cities and later to the remaining towns and locations. In Al Andalus, as the Catholic Monarchs gradually conquered the cities of the Nasrid kingdom, they introduced the feast. We thus have proof that it occurred in the city of Ronda, and subsequently in that of Granada.
This feast reached Andalusia at a time of religious commotion. The Christians, having taken possession of the Muslim lands and cities, used it not only to commemorate one of the great mysteries of their faith, but also to highlight still more their victory and to express their power, both political and religious. What display of power could be more convincing than a Corpus procession? Thus, the feast of the Corpus, representing the divine majesty and the society celebrating it with all its earthly power and splendour, took its rightful place, in both its liturgical and recreational-festive aspects, becoming the most significant in the festive cycle. Currently, the celebration has ceased to be of significance for most of the towns and cities, becoming a mere liturgical celebration, losing the popular support it used to have, which has moved to Holy Week, which over the last decades has become the the festival of Andalusia par excellence. It is only in certain towns that it has become the festival with which the townspeople most identify themselves and like to be identified; that is, their main festival, in spite of the fact that the symbol it commemorates -the real presence of Jesus in the sacrament- does not arouse greater religious devotion.
The feast of Corpus, presenting considerable uniformity in its structure and its constituent elements throughout the Hispanic world and apparently a large portion of Europe, has symbolised the hierarchical society nucleated around the institutions that formed it. All the classes and social sectors of the town or city attended; they also had a pre-established position in accordance with the principles of hierarchy and seniority typical of the Old Regime. Above all others was God himself, Jesus in the Sacrament -the highest good- and his most direct representatives, the town clergy, with the bishop at its head. The Devil was not absent either -the supreme evil- represented by the Tarasque.
This was a predominantly urban feast, and although it was celebrated with splendour in all the towns, it was in the episcopal cities where it reached the highest levels of spectacle and magnificence. There was only one procession for the entire city, and the collegiate cathedral or high parish church were the alpha and omega of the festival. The church authorities, parish priests, religious orders and clergy established there would attend, as well as the civil institutions of the city and the city council, presided by the mayor or the chief magistrate. In smaller towns, with a single parish, this feast was the principal referent. The municipal council met the substantial costs of the festival, together with the guilds and associations, paying for the Tarasque, the dancing, the giants and big-headed figures, the theatre groups, and also the decorations of the main streets of the town where the stations were located, the installation of awnings, carpeting with aromatic herbs, decorating the arches with allegoric designs and carrying out the necessary repairs to the streets. In return, the aldermen of the municipal council had the privilege of holding the poles of the pallium, and brought up the rear of the presidency of the cortège (Gómez Martínez, 1995).
The fact of the establishment of Corpus Christi as a day of obligation throughout the Catholic world has been interpreted as a tactic of the church to maintain the unity of the ecumene in the face of the divisive forces arising from local beliefs and devotions, typical of the cultural diversity of the towns where Christianity had been established. The Council of Trent (1551) sanctioned it as the consecration of the triumph of truth, which might be expressed as the triumph of the church over heresy. The order is likewise another defining note of the festival, an order representing the procession and the route itself, which is always the same, save very notable exceptions mentioned in the texts, such as the station, and including the real, symbolic centre of power: the cathedral or collegiate church, the town hall, the law courts. This order of classes was more an ideal than a reality, as demonstrated by the struggles between authorities and guilds for the pre-eminence of the location where the representatives of each institution should position themselves, which gave rise to heated quarrels where the dignity of the institutions was put into question. Ultimately, this festival took shape as a paradigm of order in the face of the chaos of carnival, in spite of the fact that until the reform of Carlos III there was a considerable carnivalesque element in the Corpus (Rodríguez Becerra, 1992:16).
This festival likewise contrasts with those of the Crosses of May -unquestionably deep-seated in Andalusia- established to commemorate the invention of the holy Cross, the other symbol par excellence of Christianity. Here, the level of participation of the locals and primary groups is extensive and generalised: the family, the neighbourhood, streets, patios and districts, with their personal belongings, their dedication and their presence. All take part in the decoration of the cross, an ephemeral operation, but highly participative, where the rivalry between the different districts that erect them plays a structural role. On the other hand, it lacks support from formal, permanent institutions, and the authorities play no part in its celebration (Rodríguez Becerra, 1999).
