Weirdlinks led us to De Sanguine Christi, a holy relic celebration in Bruges (Belgium, I think) that goes back to at least the thirteenth century. Seven hundred years of celebration ain't nothing to sneeze at folks. The relic itself is supposed to contain a cloth that was used to wipe Jesus's wounds (or something like that), and appears to have been looted from Constantinople when it was sacked by Crusaders early in the 13th century.

Blood, theft, peasants, knights, sacked cities and looted relics. God I love the middle ages!