National Holiday

Today I am having a wonderful rest, lying on my sofa, computer on my knee, in a relatively quiet Asuncion as there is a public holiday and most of my neighbours have left the city.

About 90% of Paraguayans are Catholic and they consider themselves to be very religious. Each year on 7th December many go to pay tribute to the Virgin of Caacupe during the annual pilgrimage to Caacupe Cathedral,

about 54 km from Asuncion. About one sixth of the nation’s Catholics from throughout Paraguay make the pilgrimage (just under a million people). Some walk from Asuncion and others take buses to villages near to Caacupe and then walk the rest of the way. Pilgrims of all ages make the trip, from babies in their parents’ arms, to the elderly, escorted in wheelchairs by family members. There is a spirit of camaraderie all along the route (even in the thunderstorms that they experienced yesterday).

Thankfully this year the weather has been cooler than other years. Often people suffer from heatstroke and of course many have blisters on their feet, due to walking on burning hot tarmac. Some people work to support pilgrims along the route, handing out water and administering first aid. They see this as a ministry in support of the Virgin.
Virgin of Caacupe Day is a national holiday in Paraguay. People here believe that there is Divine intervention in the images of the Virgin of Caacupe.

It is one of the most important Catholic religious festivals in Paraguay. Pilgrims come with requests for healing of an illness, for continued good health, for a job, for the blessing of children, for a future spouse for themselves or for a relative. At times they make a pilgrimage to thank the "Queen of Heaven" and fulfill the promise that they made to her for an answered request.
The celebration involves fireworks and dancing. There is also a "religious" street fair

with skill games and stalls selling everything from plastic statues, to shoes, t-shirts, grilled meats and the all important cell phones.

This t-shirt says "I am your mother." at the top. It then adds, "Oh little Virgin of Caacupe, please bless my walk 100 times over"
The main square in Caacupe and areas surrounding the cathedral are literally carpeted with people.

Every surface is occupied by pilgrims, some resting, others talking and praying. Hourly masses are broadcast over loudspeakers throughout the night of December 7th

and into the following morning. The festivities end in a six AM mass on 8th December. The President and other government officials usually attend. This year the Bishop preached that the government should be more united and he called for a "Testimony of Honesty". He was controversial, saying that approving homosexual marriage would be suicide. He said that families fail and that there is no work. He called young people to be factors in changing the future. He told the people that the Virgin is calling them to renew their lives.

The rest of the day is a holiday.

There is a legend attached to the Virgin of Caacupe. Way back in the seventeenth century some Mbayan Indians were chasing a Guarani Indian near Tobati. It is thought that the Guarani was a Christian convert who followed the Franciscans. The Mbayans were very frightened of the Franciscans.
The Guarani hid behind a tree trunk and he felt the prescence of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception. He promised that if he remained safe then he would carve a statue in her image to show his gratitude. He was spared and spent the rest of his life fulfilling his promise.
Later, he went back to the tree trunk and began to to dry out the wood ready to carve a statue of perfection. In fact he carved one large statue for a church in Tobati and a second smaller one for his own devotions. Years later there was a terrible flood of Lake Ypacari.

Many homes near to the lake and their contents were washed away. Many animals died. Amidst the rubbish an Indian carpenter found a box. He was surprised to find that inside was the famous statue of the Virgin of the immaculate conception, the smaller version. The true identity of its creator is no longer known.
Now the little statue is visited by millions of people from all over the World. Each year in December pilgrims walk to Caacupe to attend masses, which go on all day. Many buy plastic models of the Virgin, which they have blessed by a priest at the cathedral. They then set up shrines to the Virgin in their homes.
Strangely, the larger of the two statues can still be found in the church in Tobati because that is where the sculptor believed that the Virgin Mary interceded to save his life.

As for me? Well, I am not moving to walk 54kms, when I can just sit here and talk and pray directly with my mediator, the Lord Jesus, the only way to the Father in Heaven!
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"1 Timothy 2:5, KJV

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (NIV)