Los Romeros

I just returned from a local pilgrimage to some Tico friends' church because today is the national holiday in Costa Rica to celebrate La Negrita, a black image of the Virgin Mary that was found up in Cartago many, many years ago. The annual ritual pulls pilgrims from all over the country to make their way to Cartago, walking in bare feet. For those who cannot do the full pilgrimage, one walks to one's local church and then attends a mass. And so it came about that I joined mes amigos at 6 am this morning to do the walk in the rain. Xinya and her daughter Lizbette were in flip flops, and we walked 10 kilometers and stopped at a soda (restaurant) to have gallo pinto (rice and beans) and eggs, fish, meat or chicken. That was my first cup of coffee for the day, and I must admit that it tasted mighty fine and felt mighty good to sit down after 2 hours in the rain.

These are some of the wet souls we passed along the way: first, I love the neatly pressed, white strapped dress for a garden party; it only got a little mud spattered all over it. Then, there was the young woman, carrying a rather fancy-looking pair of Nikes; when I asked why she wasn't wearing them, she reminded me that it was not permitted to wear shoes! Silly me; I'd forgotten, and my socks and sneakers were so wet that after almost 6 hours, my feet were totally wet and wrinkled as though I'd died somewhere along the trek, which was along the major highway with 18-wheelers careening past us at 100 km per hour.

After the heavenly respite under cover, we walked another 15 minutes to the church where we were met by this banner.

The place was packed and really jumping, people buying plates of food, dogs hanging around for scraps, babies wailing, people yelling on cell phones, all chewing gum, and all in tight pants with an overflow of flesh.

Before the mass began, we milled around, Marvin shaking hands with everyone as though he were the mayor of the world, and then they filled up my water bottle with holy water that came out of a rock and had somehow been blessed. I was told that having it in my house would guard my house. From what I didn't ask, but I knew there were things to fear as Xinya told me her 34 year old brother had been riding his bicycle and was hit by a car; he's been in a coma for the past 8 months, which is one of the major reasons we were staying for the mass; however, when it came to communion time, I noticed that they didn't get up in line. When I asked why, Xinya told me they were not allowed because they had never bothered getting married. That's church for you - all embracing, all inclusive, just what Christianity is all about, eh?

Before mass began, there was a little prelude, which I hope to show you on a video, but first you need a sense of the space. The church was packed, so this is the overload where we sat for mass, (you will notice who made it in her white dress), and the dog spent most of the mass curled at my feet after I gave him some pats; who could resist these ears?

I am going to try to post the short video of the "Prelude" to the actual mass. It really says it all... This blog won't allow me to upload the video, but the music was spanish dance music, and everyone clapped and sang along - a far cry from Bach!