Walking through the village in ecstasy

Marches and ecstatic falls

One of the extraordinary and unprecedented phenomena in the history of the apparitions was the ecstatic marches and ecstatic falls of the visionaries in Garabandal. In the moments before the visions and during the visions, the girls circled the streets of the villages, went up and down the mountain, entered the houses, visited the cemetery, but always in a state of ecstasy. Sometimes they also fell to the ground in ecstasy, without ever being hurt.

The young women knew when the visions would happen, by a series of three calls (illuminations) each stronger than the other. After the third call, they ran to the reclusive place, where the first visions were given: there they prostrated themselves on their knees in the sharp rocky rocks, they entered into a supernatural ecstatic trance. Their heads melted back, the pupils of their eyes dilated, their faces beaded with perspiration with striking angelic expression. They remained thus in this position for a few hours, without however showing signs of muscular effort and fatigue. Thus they were insensitive to pin pricks, burns with matches and physical contacts. Even when, at night, during the visions, dazzling spotlights were centered on the faces of the young, her pupils remained motionless and dilated. During such trances the weight of the young girls became so excessive that two adult men had difficulty raising a 12-year-old girl. However, they rose with one another, with the greatest ease, to offer a kiss to Ssma. Virgin.

Ecstatic falls


As the apparitions continued, a new phenomenon began to occur: the Extatic Fall. Only in ecstasy, whether on their knees or standing, did the young women fall behind, stretched out on the ground. They were never harmed by this, nor were their garments ever entangled, entangled, or inconvenient. They were thus ecstatic, in a horizontal position and without using their hands to compose themselves, returning to the original position, on their knees or standing. When two or more of the young women, in ecstasy, fell together, their movements were perfectly synchronized. One witness, Canon Júlio Porro Cardenoso, said that it was identical to a jet of light inside a large conference hall where all the lights went out simultaneously. When the girls lay on the ground, after an ecstatic fall, the position of their bodies stood out somewhat as a supernatural sign, and many bystanders described them as magnificent "sculptures."

Another exceptional feature of the apparitions, coming almost at the same time of the ecstatic fall, is the EXHAUSTIC MARCH. From head to back, in a characteristic way and without seeing where they would go, the girls marched arm-in-hand back and forth, without the slightest difficulty, on rugged and dangerous terrain and sometimes with such swift steps that spectators did not. could accompany them. A witness, Ms. Ascencion de Luis, described in a report dated March 18, 1962. one of these "to fly": "From the village, climbing the rocky ramp to the small pine forest that hung in the direction of the village ... The girl climbed the ramp and down again at incredible speed. " Sometimes the girls resembled airplanes gliding in the air, when they apparently flew over the land, arms outstretched, touching only the ground with their toes.


Ecstatic walks

From the earliest days of the apparitions, the girls presented the Virgin with religious objects for Her to kiss, Istó was suggested by Our Lady, and when the people heard of it, numerous thirds, crosses, medals and alliances were given to the little visionaries. Such was the collection of religious objects deposited on a table for such purpose, that it would be humanly impossible for the young women to be able to return them to their own owners, without equivocation. However, when in ecstasy and guided by Our Lady the girls always returned medals, alliances and other numerous objects to the right people. Many priests witnessed the ecstasies of the girls.