Luís Costa
“The Beggar’s Walking Stick”
HD Video, 15m:38s
“The Beggar’s Walking Stick” is an experimental audiovisual piece by Binaural/Nodar’s coordinator Luis Costa. The piece was part of Divina Souns Ruris, a sound and media art program dedicated to interactions between sound and religion that took place throughout 2013, and is a reflection based on the ancestral presence of beggars during religious processions in the Gralheira Mountain Range (São Pedro do Sul, Portugal).
“The Beggar’s Walking Stick” celebrates one full year that Binaural/Nodar dedicated to the creative interaction with religious subjects and entities, aimed at the promotion of a sincere dialogue with the local catholic church hierarchy and at the recognition of the importance of religion in the lifes of rural communities where Binaural/Nodar develops its activities.
The beggar’s walking stick
My father told me
that by the 40s of the last century
beggars would roam
to all religious gatherings happening
in the Gralheira Mountains,
such as the pilgrimage to Mount St. Macarius
on the last weekend of July.
From the middle of the week already,
beggars were heading to the pilgrimage site.
They were going begging from village to village
and, on Saturday night or on Sunday morning at the latest,
the whole legion of beggars would form an endless queue
Outside the chapels at the top of the mountain.
with their walking sticks,
tattered clothes
and shabby sandals.
taking advantage of the faith involvement
which breathed on the occasion.
Beggars.
These old beggars
Poor but gentle
Sometimes I wish we could be more beggars and less masters
Returning to everyday necessity
To the absolute freedom of choosing the path to walk.
Humility, poverty and truth,
as foundations of a revolution that will never happen.