September 15, 2006

It's Romaria Time

Yesterday for about two hours, pilgrims paraded near our house. They were riding in everything from air conditioned buses to rattletrap pickups. The noise was deafening.

Some background may be necessary. Every year our city, Juazeiro do Norte, is flooded two or three times a year by pilgrims coming to pay homage (worship) to Padre Cicero--a cleric who died in the 1930's. The pilgrims--called "romeiros"--come from all over Brazil. Their devotion to this man, who supposedly performed miracles, and who was summarily excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church--is amazing, and sad, to see.

Below are some pictures I took of the parade:

This is a "Pau de Arara". They are supposed to be illegal, but it seems that during the Romaria (pilgrimage), the officials turn the other way. After all, if they kept them out of the city, they would be removing a huge source of income.

I have traveled in some pretty uncomfortable circumstances before, but I cannot imagine spending the better part of a week in these conditions.

Most of the trucks have an image of the Padre somewhere on them--usually on the top.

Correct spelling is not high on the priority list here. The word is "romeiros", not "rumeiros". Oh well. It's not like my spelling is all that stellar.

Believe it or not, this is only the second-biggest pilgrimage during the near. The biggest one takes place in the beginning of November, and is the focus of a huge evangelistic outreach on the part of our seminary and our local churches. As I watched the buses go by yesterday, I could not help but wonder if we should concentrate on the second-biggest one as well.

Posted by Andrew on September 15, 2006 12:37 PM.

Comments

Posted by: Rachel at September 18, 2006 10:13 AM