All Saints in Arequipa
Our hotel in Arequipa was opposite the convent and we were greeted by the bells from all over town ringing when we arrived. The hotel was clean and very, very quiet (apart from the ubiquitous door banging at 5am and lets not forget the building work hammer/drill that began at 7am – no worries about the alarm not working there then!).
On walking out, we found the main square which felt huge with the cathedral spanning the whole length. I think we read somewhere that Arequipa is the only Peruvian town/city whose cathedral spans the full length of the square.
As usual, we found something going off! There was a religious march/parade that appeared to be very solemn. At the front were children – the girls looked as though they were in first Holy Communion dresses. There was someone else waving burning incense. Then followed a small glass coffin, adorned with simple flowers. If there was a body in there, it was only of a baby or small child. But no-one was crying or mourning this part of the parade so we guessed that it wasn’t a funeral.
Then came the main body of people, mainly women. All clutching religious cards and throwing petals and flowers at a huge statue of what we guessed was a local female Saint, dressed in black with tears glistening down “her” face. It was women only who carried the Saint through the streets (although typically South American, they were under the direction of a man!) and they stopped occasionally to rest and change bearers. The priest walked in front of the statue and stopped to say prayers which everyone joined in with.
Everyone was very solemn. We couldn’t quite work out if it was a sad occasion or a celebration but we paid our respects (unlike some other “Westerners” who had no hesitation in jumping out in front of the parade and flashing their cameras).
Tags: Peruvian tales
mihai