The Pilgrimage to the Black Virgin

Last week was the festival of La Negrita, the black virgin. Half of the country converges on Cartago, the provincial capital, for the occasion. Some come by foot as far a Panama and Nicaragua, but most come from Tres Rios (5 miles) or San Jose (9 miles). My friend Margoth and I did part of the pilgrimage walk again (I was here for this last year)from the next town over, Paraiso, this time about two miles, and went into the church, surprisingly in time for the evening mass, and it wasn’t even really crowded. This time, I also visited the museum downstairs, which houses display cases filled with hundreds of little silver charms of all types of body parts that have been healed by praying for the Virgin’s intercession. We also got to see the fireworks, which I attempted to photograph. Later, walking back, we came upon a corner where the people were so densely packed, all we could do was bump along each other, in the general direction we wanted. Even in India, I have never been in such a tightly crushed group of people. I wish I had thought to take a photo of this from the air, it was truly an incredible experience, definitely not for the claustrophobic. Margoth and I hung on to each other’s clothes, so we wouldn’t get separated. Amazingly enough, even though everyone was bumping along and considerably much more “up close and personal” than normal decorum dictates, everyone was good natured about it, and smiled and nodded to each other in passing.