Today our destination was Sanchez Pascua Mercado. Yes, Sam found out about another mercado. At around 11:00 a.m., we made our way across town. We knew we had to get to Parque Juarez also called Parque Llano. There is a catholic church at this park called Church of the Guadalupe. We knew that tomorrow, December 12th, is the Celebration of the Virgin of the Guadalupe. However, when we arrived to the park, we were surprised to see the crowds of people already celebrating.
We took several pictures and walked around the entire park. Then we continued our walk to the mercado. It was a nice market; however, Mercado Hildago that we went to yesterday is closer to our home and just as nice. We walked to another small grocery store and picked up a few items.
On our way back to our home, we had to return to Parque Llano. There was something that was pulling us back. We took some more pictures and went inside the church. When we walked in the church, we were blessed by an alter boy who had a handful of roses. He dipped the roses in the holy water and sprinkled them on our heads. It was truly amazing seeing all of the families and the young children dressed up, standing in line offering flowers to the Virgin of Guadalupe, touching and kissing the statue and blessing themselves and their children, and lighting candles.
We thought about how we would write the story of the celebration. When we got back home, Sam went online to understand the tradition and meaning of everything we saw and experienced today. She found a website that one can go to for a wonderful explanation. Everything in this article we experienced today. We decided that we couldn't give as detailed of an explantion as this article. After reading the article, please visit our photos on the Photobucket link.
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/729-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-celebration-in-oaxaca
http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee21/eplbobsam/Celebration%20of%20the%20Virgin%20of%20the%20Guadalupe/?action=view¤t=bbe5a0a3.pbw
Another beautiful day in Mexico. I loved the pictures. It is funny that you ended up at the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Last night I was continuing the process of going through Kelli's things. She had great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I was looking at her pictures, holy cards, novenas, etc. She would have loved to view your blog today. She would have said you were so blessed to be there. I would agree.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I love about Mexico is walking into a celebration which in turn sends me off to learn ever more about this wonderful country.
ReplyDeleteBillie:
ReplyDeleteCan't agree with you more...there is so much to learn.