Dust, or, Why They Don't Just Slide Over in the Pew in Church

The first time I went to church I noticed that it is not the custom here to just move over when someone wants to sit in your pew.  If you want to sit in a pew that is already occupied, you might have to crawl over 6 or 7 people.  No one minds, but at the same time they do not move down.  This morning it finally dawned on me:  Everyone, man or woman, as they enter the pew, pulls out a hanky or cloth and wipes off the spot where they are about to sit.  You want to wipe off the kneeler, too.  And once you've gone to the trouble, you're loath to move and give up this nice clean seat.

Everything is always coated with a fine layer of dust, every day.  After just 3 or 4 days, the dust is thick.  As soon as mass is finished in church, the sacristan covers the altar with a plastic tablecloth that he does not remove until a few minutes before the next mass.