For the past week the group has been in Northern Spain. We have been to the Northern most point (Finstierra-the end of the world) to Salamanca and back to Seville. Although the trip was a blast I can’t help but feeling like this trip to the north was a religious pilgrimage, a pilgrimage that I had no intention of taking nor did I want to take. For the first couple of days we visited a slew of cathedrals and churches. I’ve seen the inside of more churches than I have of buddhist monasteries and to some degree this has made me intensely uncomfortable. Now I’m not generally a religious person, I was bought up as a cultural buddhist and have the utmost respect for other religions unless those religions are trying to indoctrinate me forcefully.
There’s a saying that the victors of war/conflict write history and I have found this to be very, very true in terms of Spain’s religious identity. Especially amongst the churches and cathedrals that can be found on every other corner of the streets of cities and towns. What i find intriguing is the masking of other religions, particularly Islam. For example the mesquitas of both Córdoba and sevilla have been either incorporated catholic alters, pews, etc or have completely replaced everything about the mosque except for a rogue symbol or tower. It’s interesting to me that these sites can be visited and prayed in by Catholics but not by Muslims. There’s definitely inequality in that.
Disclaimer
As an outsider I don’t have the right to lecture locals on these topics, these are simply my observations.