"Pet Blessing In Spain"

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This week is the Feast of San Anton. He's the patron saint of domestic animals. And in Spain, the festivities culminate in a Catholic Mass where people bring their pets to church - dogs, cats, even lizards in the church pews. NPR's Lauren Frayer managed to find herself a seat among that motley crew.

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LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: The streets of downtown Madrid are closed to traffic, and everyone is streaming down with their pets in their arms. There are dogs in sweaters, there's a cat here in a baby sling, and there's a man trailing two sheep on a leash - a ferret, a parakeet. They're all in line waiting to be blessed by the priests, anointed with holy water, at the Church of San Anton.

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FRAYER: Federico Espanolo was pushing a stroller filled with his babies.

FEDERICO ESPANOLO: I'm here with my son and my four dogs and my wife.

FRAYER: So this is a double stroller, and you have how many living beings in there (laughter)?

ESPANOLO: Four of them - four of them are in the stroller and then my son in this one.

FRAYER: Four dogs and one human.

ESPANOLO: Yeah (laughter).

FRAYER: And are they all being blessed today?

ESPANOLO: Yes, they're being blessed all together, yeah. And we have been blessed having all of them in our family.

FRAYER: This festival celebrates San Anton, or Saint Anthony the Abbott, a Christian monk born in the third century who befriended animals in the Egyptian desert. Here, it's a week of concerts, animal rights workshops and vegan restaurant deals, attracting both hipsters and little old ladies with lap dogs.

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FRAYER: Julian Munoz is carrying a bird cage with a green-and-yellow parakeet inside.

JULIAN MUNOZ: This is Horacio. Horacio is a bird. This Christmas, he was sick. We didn't know what to do. We started praying to San Anton. He had a photo of San Anton in the cage. Finally, he's better now. He has singing again.

FRAYER: So does Julian really believe that San Anton interceded and healed his pet parakeet, Horacio?

MUNOZ: Yes. Also the vet has done her work in this case, but, yes, I think that San Anton has made a little miracle with Horacio, and now he's happy again.

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FRAYER: For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer at the Church of San Anton in downtown Madrid.

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