I sit daily at my kitchen window watching people and taxis at the four-way stop. Late this afternoon though the police blocked the road for a procession of men in violet robes. What they carried and what it meant I do not know. This procession was an oddity in the neighborhood and I love that it happened here.
View the rest of the photos here.
wow…can you tell me more about what was going on? interesting stuff!
Amanda found out about it at a neighborhood Peruvian shop yesterday. I’ll ask her…
Well it’s hard to sum up on a blog comment, but basically the painting that is featured on the shrine being carried, is the center of it all. It is a painting of Jesus on the Cross. The shop owner animatedly explained to me that the original was hung in a church in Lima. There was an earthquake and everything in the city fell except for the part of the wall with this painting. The people were amazed and though it must be a sign from God, so they hung it on a special mantel in the re-built church. Many years later there was another earthquake and again the whole city fell and the painting remained high on its mantel. Now the people were sure this was a sign from God and they raised the painting on a shrine and paraded out of the church for everyone to experience its holy presence.
The shop owner said that the actual experience in Lima is amazing because millions of people participate in being silent together during the parts of the procession which are too holy for sound. He said standing silent enough to hear a pin drop when you are in the middle of a million people is a surreal experience.