Strange But True: The Wetting of the Animals

by chris cunningham

No really, I swear to Flying Spaghetti Monster [LINK] that thousands and thousands of people line up to have Cardinal Roger Mahony throw water on their pets for 5 hours. No, seriously, I swear, even turtles. Turtles! It’s time again for the yearly Blessing of the Animals down by Olvera Street! Woo hoo, let’s get wet! They even refill the water with those giant plastic Sparklett’s bottles. Which begs the question how much does Arrowhead holy water cost anyway? I’m always intrigued by the strange but true religious rituals even if the individuals doing the so called strange but true ritual don’t actually see it as strange. Dancin’ with serpents, drinking strychnine, dunkin’ your baby under water and rubbing ashes on your forehead. Strange to me, but knock yourself out because I wanna see it. You are going to get a lot of questions from me and probably more than a few photographs. I love stuff like this because I don’t have a ritualistic bone in my body so it’s kinda fascinating.

I remember one time I walked into a church with a hat on and the guy at the inside door nearly passed out like he was about to be struck down. He was all scared and talking in hushed tones, “Sir, you can’t wear your hat inside the church.’ I was all “Really, why not?!” His answer was “Because we don’t cover our heads in the presence of the Lord.” He really didn’t think it was funny when I pointed out that is was an Angel baseball cap and the Lord probably has x-ray vision. Yeah, he didn’t like that so much and I wasn’t able to attend the wedding rehearsal. Yeah, not one of my better to just let it be moments. Sorry Shawn, I didn’t get to videotape the wedding rehearsal because I was busy being a dick. Some churches allow hats, how am I supposed to keep them all straight? Maybe if I was wearing a Popey kinda hat like the Cardinal it would have been all cool and stuff.

To get there I took the Red Line down to Union Station so I could avoid the traffic mess and the cost of parking. It worked out perfectly and I was able to grab lunch at Rodolpho’s on Olvera Street [LINK]. Sooo good. Turn Here is a great site of local videos. I can sit and watch these all day [LINK]. And hello…[LINK] girl with feathers in your hair and paint on your face!! Wow, she’s pretty.