First Miracle

After Capurnum we went to Canna or Cava (which is it's true name). Here we went to a Church where they celebrate the first miracle of Christ. It is down this long street filled with homes. The church itself is behind some metal doors — very much they way things are done here — inside the doors is a fairly tall but rather small church. It was build in 1999 over the top of a previous church which was built on top of a previous church. That's also the way things are done here. If the ruins don't have great archaeological/historical importance (and sometimes even if they do) they are built over, and the remains of the previous building are used in the new one. (The very front bit (the balcony downward) is part of a really old church) Here we actually went under the church to see some excavation that was done. In the excavation we saw a wine vat which was huge. It was made out of stone and George explained that it would have been kept in the cellar and then the wine would be scooped out and put in smaller containers. Here people had written notes and left them under the vat. I asked why and it was explained that as a relic people would feel their prayers would be shuttled more quickly to God. We came up from under the church and walked around a pit in the floor on a platform. I looked in and saw that people had tossed coins and bills into the excavation hole. I laughed — 500 years from now when archaeologists are digging this out they are going to be so confused as to the dating of the buildings based solely on the coins found there. It kind of makes me wonder if we don't have that issue now.