20/08/2026
🙌 känner du till storyn om den efterlängtade synen av en svängande Butafumeiro i Katedralen i Santiago de Compostella?
Här kommer den;
The Accident — or the Luck — of the Infanta
Many people know what the Botafumeiro is — and for those who don’t, here’s the short version.
It’s a censer, a vessel used to burn incense during Christian services.
Nothing extraordinary in itself.
Except the Botafumeiro is not ordinary.
It’s a giant. It weighs about 60 kilograms, stands 1.80 meters tall, and has been hanging inside the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela for roughly six centuries.
Because no human can hold such a monster in their hands, it’s suspended from the cathedral’s ceiling by a pulley system installed in 1604 — a mechanism that still works today.
Its dramatic swinging motion is handled by eight specially trained men dressed in red robes, known as tiraboleiros.
The one who starts and stops the swing is called el primero — the first among them.
He’s not the boss (el jefe) and not the leader (el chapo).
He’s simply “the first among equals,” much like Caesar during the triumvirate. Of course, as history shows, Caesar was always a bit more equal than the others — and the same applies to el primero.
The pulley system works remarkably well… except when it doesn’t. Think of it like buying a washing machine: you expect it to break after ten years, but at least it doesn’t weigh 60 kilos or hang 20 meters above your head.
The Botafumeiro, however, has had moments when it broke free from its ropes and flew wherever its metal head wanted to go — even shooting out of the cathedral through the Puerta Platerías without bothering to open the door.
This happened in 1499, 1622, and 1937.
Miraculously, no one was ever hurt — perhaps thanks to the sacred nature of the censer.
The most famous “flight” took place in 1499, when Infanta Catalina of Aragon visited Santiago de Compostela on her way to England, where she was engaged to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VII.
The young infanta came to pray at the tomb of Saint James, hoping to be spared the troubles of marriage.
The Botafumeiro’s dramatic escape through Puerta Platerías didn’t help her much.
Her husband Arthur died only six months after the wedding.
Or maybe it did help her — because seven years later she married Arthur’s brother, who became King Henry VIII.
Or maybe not — because after twenty three years of marriage, Henry divorced her to marry a younger woman.
Her daughter became Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland — better known as Bloody Mary.
And what remains for us today?
A cocktail with the same name, made from vodka, tomato juice, and a few other things.
Pretty cool.
The cocktail, I mean.
Well… and the story too.
