Candlelight and World Affairs

Early in the morning a smell hangs over Lourdes that is hard to describe. A little warm paraffin, a trace of soot, and that heavy air that rises from workshops where the same movements have been performed for decades. While outside the first groups of pilgrims are already moving along the Boulevard de la Grotte, behind unassuming facades a work begins that belongs to the soul of this town as much as the ringing of the bells or the murmuring of prayers. There women stand at long tables and pull ...