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Published: December 10th 2008
Hello to each and every one of you, I hope this post finds you all well. I realize that it has been ages since my last blog post and that many of you may think I dropped off the face of the earth, but that is not the case. The reality has been, for the past few weeks I have not had much of anything noteworthy to write about. I have been working, hanging out with friends, and finally settling into a semi-normal routine without health issues (knock on wood). I was going to write a blog about Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay, but after an experience from this past weekend I have decided to save that for another post. Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to experience something truly Paraguayo, something that I will no doubt remember for the rest of my life. Therefore, unlike past blogs and future blogs, I am only going to write about one subject this week. I hope that you continue to enjoy reading my posts and still, as always, welcome any comments/concerns/suggestions that you think would help me to improve the content or anything else.
Pilgrimage to Caacupé 2008 - Our
Lady of the Miracles of Caacupé
General overview of experience
Significance of Mary to Roman Catholics
Caacupé to Paraguay
Legend
Pilgrimage to Caacupé
How we served
Actual pilgrimage walk/Basilica experience
My reaction to the whole experience
Wrap-up
*Disclaimer: This is an extremely long blog post, you may want to grab a drink or snack
before continuing. That is all.
For those of you who do not know this, I am a practicing member of the Roman Catholic religion. The program that I am volunteering through, VIDES+USA, is a catholic program run by the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, a specific Roman Catholic religious order. You may have noticed that I refer to sisters at times in my blogs and this may have confused some of you. I am referring to religious sisters, not sisters in the familial sense. The place that I work is also where the sisters live, so I have an ongoing relationship with the sisters and the Salesian community in general. One of the groups that meets once a week at La Obra Social is a group of young people called Jovenes para los Jovenes, meaning young people for the young people. The
group, which includes a number of my coworkers, meets weekly to play games, pray, and just spend time together in the name of the Lord. This past weekend I joined the group on their yearly service trip to the city of Caacupé. Our purpose was to serve a large number of people making a religious pilgrimage in any way that we could. The work consisted of water distribution, first aid, guided prayer, and many other random tasks. We spent most of Saturday and all or Sunday serving the pilgrims, and then eventually made the pilgrimage ourselves, albeit a much shorter pilgrimage than most of the people we were serving. As I realize some of you may be very confused at this point as to what I am talking about, I will try to elaborate on my experience as best as possible. I am having a bit of trouble organizing my thoughts as it was such an extraordinary and profound experience, but hopefully I am able to convey some of this to you.
In the Roman Catholic religion, Mary, the mother of Jesus, holds a very special significance. As the mother of Jesus, the son of God, she is considered
to be the Mother of God. She is also considered to be the mother of the church. Because of this, she is a highly venerated figure within the church and is often prayed to and adored, much like God or Jesus. There are many prayers and religious writings directed towards Mary, and apparitions of her figure are often reported by believers. The practice of the veneration of Mary is common to all Catholics, but from my experiences, it seems like South Americans take this practice to a whole new level. Many cities use her as their patroness and give her a specific name based on her significance to the city, such as a miracle that may have taken place there or a specific apparition of her figure. There seem to be a countless number of names given to Mary and in many cities/towns in South America she is given the name “Our Lady of __________” (insert city name). In the Catholic religion, many of the saints and venerated figures have feast days on which they are recognized and adored. In South America (maybe in other places too, although I have never experienced them), the religious followers celebrate what are called
novenarios. A novenario is a nine day period, including the feast day, dedicated to prayer and worship of a specific saint, Mary, or God. Although there is only one Mary in the Catholic religion, there are various feast days and novenarios celebrated throughout the world recognizing and adoring her by her many different names. In my time in Paraguay, I have already witnessed/taken part in two novenarios, both dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hopefully this gives you a little insight into the Catholic religion, at least enough to follow the rest of the blog post.
This past weekend (actually Monday, December 8) concluded the novenario of Our Lady of the Miracles of Caacupé. Caacupé is home to the national basilica and is considered the religious center of Paraguay, the meeting place of the nation and the church. Paraguay is a catholic nation and, although I have been told there is separation between church and state, I just don’t believe this after what I have experienced (there seems to be a strong governmental presence within the church). Of the roughly 6 million people in the country, it is estimated that almost 90% are of the Roman Catholic faith (according
to Wikipedia). There is greater devotion to Mary under the name of Our Lady of Caacupé as she is considered to be the mother of all Paraguayans. Therefore, her feast day is considered important throughout the entire country, not just in the city of Caacupé.
The legend of how the image and the significance of Our Lady of the Miracles of Caacupé came about dates back to the early 16th century. It is said that a Gauraní Indian, recently converted by Franciscans of the Tobati mission, was in a situation of grave danger. He was being pursued by a group of members of the fierce Mbayáes tribe, a group that refused to accept Christianity and declared itself an enemy to all converts. The Indian knew that if he were caught he was sure to be killed. In the deep of the forest, he found a thick tree trunk as a safe refuge behind which he hid, trembling in fear. He then asked for protection from his Mother in Heaven, the figure that the Franciscan friars taught him to love. He promised the Virgin that if he survived, he would carve a pretty image of her out of the wood
of the protective tree. His persecutors did not find him and he escaped safely. Later he returned to the place and took the wood from the tree to carve the promised statue. From the trunk arose two images of the Virgin Mary; A larger one that went to the church of Tobati, and a smaller one that the Indian kept for personal devotion. In 1603 the Tapaicuá Lake overflowed and flooded the whole Pirayú valley, raising everything in its path, including the image of the Virgin. After the water eventually cleared, the image of Mary miraculously reappeared. It was at this time that the people invoked the name of “Virgin of the Miracles” upon the statue. A carpenter and follower of Mary constructed a hermitage to house the image and from that point on she began receiving pilgrims. Since that time, she has continued receiving pilgrims from all over Paraguay as her feast day of December 8 approaches.
For those of you who do not know what a religious pilgrimage is, it is basically a long journey to a location of special significance. In the case of Our Lady of Caacupé, the pilgrims come to show their gratitude and
love for their mother, often fulfilling a promise they may have made to her when asking for help with various issues in their personal lives. The pilgrims come from all around Paraguay, however they are able to, the majority on foot or on bicycle. For some people, the journey to Caacupé takes a day. For others, it can take up to a week. I talked to people who had walked for an entire week to get there. They come alone, they come in pairs, or they come in families, depending on the individual and their promise to the Blessed Virgin. The pilgrims walk along the poorly lit freeway, often more than hundreds of kilometers, by day and by night. When they get tired they sleep wherever they find a spot, often right along the side of the freeway. Over the period of the novenario, it is said that as many as 2 million Paraguayans make the pilgrimage to the city of Caacupé, roughly one third of the country. They eventually arrive at the steps of national basilica, home to the statue of Our Lady of the Miracles of Caacupé, where masses are held constantly, 24-hours a day during the novenario.
They come, celebrate mass, pray to their mother, and eventually head home. Most of them take busses home after their long journey walking or biking to Caacupé. It is truly something amazing to witness and fathom as nothing like this would ever take place in the United States, for a variety of reasons.
Now that I have tried my best to explain a bit about the Catholic faith and the history behind the religious pilgrimage in Paraguay, I will get to the part about my involvement. Like I said before, I joined a group of young people from my work with the mission of serving the pilgrims. We were stationed at one of 8 posts (all served by young Catholics) along the pilgrimage route (aka the highway), ours being the 7th post, roughly 5 kilometers from the national basilica of Caacupé. We arrived late Saturday morning, after a series of bus problems (which did not surprise me in the least), and were greeted by a number of other young people that would be working at the post with us. We talked a bit about our mission and what we hoped to accomplish and then got to work. We planned
to begin our services to the pilgrims around 2:00 pm. In the time leading up to the service people did a lot of random things including preparation of rest areas, tent setup, first aid supply setup, water duty preparation, and just general logistical things that needed to be worked out. Around 2:00 pm we were divided into teams of 5 or 6 people, each which would rotate through the five stations (first aid, water duty, liturgy, logistics, rest) every hour. Although we were supposed to stay with our groups, when there was a greater need in a certain area we were allowed to float around. Someone spilled the beans that I had a general knowledge/experience in the area of first aid, so I kind of became the go to guy for that station. I never tell people that I am a doctor (or even a student in med school, because I am not) or that I really have much experience treating any type of sickness or injury, but it is often the case that people believe I am qualified to do almost anything. I find that it is hard to convey qualifications because the system of schooling here is so
much different than in the United States. The notion of undergraduate coursework before med school is a very foreign concept, so explaining this to people generally takes some time and a lot of effort.
I started with a little work in the first aid tent, even though my group was working on logistics. Within the first few minutes I had popped some nasty blisters on a lady’s feet, dressed her wounds, and gotten her back walking in no time. I helped out with a few more people, then went back to join my group. While working on creating more seating areas for the pilgrims, I was randomly called to the first aid tent, even when there was not much to do. One of the organizers told me that the young woman in charge of first aid felt a lot more comfortable with me around, which was something I have never heard before in my life. I will not lie, I felt kind of proud at that moment that I was actually accomplishing something in the name of healthcare, something I have waited almost four months to accomplish.
The work in the water distribution tent was exactly what you
would think it would be. We constantly filled water pitchers and brought them out to the roadside to serve to the pilgrims. We filled cups which we reused countless times (kind of gross to think about, but we tried to wash them frequently), as well as water bottles and thermoses that the travelers were carrying. I really enjoyed this post as we were able to interact with the people a lot and encourage them that they were almost there. We were each asked to write down a goal at the beginning of the day and my goal was to talk to as many people as possible, so this was the perfect post to do this at. It was extremely hot both days as we are approaching summer now, so the temperatures are reaching the century mark almost everyday. Many of the people were not carrying water with them, which was not a good idea in that heat, so it was good to be able to provide them with something so necessary to their well-being on their journey.
The first aid tent was an extremely interesting and sometimes depressing place to be. Because many of the pilgrims had been walking
for days, they were in pretty rough shape. The majority of people were hobbling along in sandals or flip flops, often with blisters covering their feet. The whole time I was thinking to myself, “I wish people understood that it is not a good idea to walk a long distance in flip flops.” But anyways, the treatments we offered ranged to foot washings, wound dressings, analgesic medication administration, body massages (mostly legs), and pretty much any other random things we could think of to help the people. Although the work was very disgusting at times, it did not bother me in the least as I knew I was really helping people. Like I said, people thought I was kind of an expert, so they came to me with questions. I had one very scary moment. I was down the road handing out water and was called to come quickly. As I arrived in the tent I found a girl laying on one of the mats having what looked like a seizure. People were yelling, “Mateo, what should we do” (in Spanish of course). I really did not know what to do, but I tried my best to stay composed and
calm. The girl seemed to be having some trouble breathing, so I was checking her respirations and also her pulse. Although I used to be CPR certified, I am not as of now, but at that moment I felt I was on the verge of having to do it and was kind of worried. Luckily, she continued breathing, so this was not necessary. Her pulse continued getting really fast and then really slow. An ambulance was called and was in route, so I told myself just to keep her conscious and breathing until they got there. Unfortunately, she seemed to be alone (people of very young ages seemed to be making the journey alone, which was a little strange to see), so there was nobody to tell us if she had allergies, was asthmatic, etc. We kept talking to her and holding her hands and assuring her everything would be alright. Eventually, the paramedics arrived, got her hooked up to oxygen, and took her away. I was very relieved by this as I had had visions of her dying and having no idea what to do. It was a very intense experience and one that I will not soon forget.
The liturgical part of the service was also very interesting. We basically walked about half a mile down the highway in groups of two or three and then just asked people who were walking if they would like to pray a Holy Rosary with us while they walked. The majority of people we asked, both young and old, were very open to the idea. We would walk with them, pray, and then wish them luck and tell them about the other services we were offering at our tent just ahead of them. We would then turn around, walk back down the road, and repeat this same process. I must say, I may have prayed more Rosaries in those two days than I have in the rest of my life. It was an extremely unique opportunity to ask random strangers if they would like to pray with you and have them be completely open to the idea. Living in the United States where people are often very closed off and even rude when it comes to the idea of religion, this was very refreshing to experience. It is very interesting to live in a country where there seems to be
a national religion that is almost universal.
Throughout our time we had short rests and an allotted few hours to sleep, but I can honestly say I think I slept about 5 hours in the 48 hours that we were there. Strangely, although I was tired, I found myself out there serving water in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. I told myself that these people were probably a whole lot more tired than I was and that serving them was more necessary than a few extra hours of sleep.
On Sunday night around 8:00 pm we wrapped up our service, although some of us were still out there distributing water for a bit longer. At this time, all of the young people serving at all of the 8 posts joined us at our post. Although I didn’t know anyone, many of my friends had a lot of longtime friends that they were reunited with, so they really enjoyed the experience. There was singing, dancing, and tons of spirit, all in the name of the Virgin Mary. It actually kind of reminded me of a high school homecoming rally in the United States as each post
seemed to have a lot of pride and had cheers and such (oh, except my high school class was by far the worst at this, shoutout to all CDHers class of ‘04). Near the end of the time together they asked any people who were experiencing their first pilgrimage to say a few word about what they thought about it and what it meant to them. Although I really did not want to talk in front of more than 600 people, my post was adamant about me saying something. I got up in front of all of the young people, told them I was a volunteer from the U.S. (which got a huge cheer), told them which post I was at, said I was amazed by the number of young people serving the pilgrims and also the incredible number of people making the journey, and also that you would not find anything like it in the U.S. Although it was a little nerve-wracking, I was glad that I said something.
Around midnight we gathered with our post in rows of 4 and began our own pilgrimage to the basilica of Caacupé. It must have been quite a sight to
see over 600 people walking in a line, arm in arm. They said it was only 5 kilometers, but if you asked my partner she may have believed otherwise. Our row started in the front of our group, but my partner had a bit of a weight issue, something I kind of wondered about being a problem. About halfway through the walk we started to fall back because she really could not keep up. I was not the happiest about this as I did not even know her, did not really know how to help her, and was spending the whole walk away from my friends. Eventually a few of her friends came back to be with her and I went ahead to walk with my friends. As we approached Caacupé we saw a large cross at the entrance of the city. As we grew closer to the basilica, the number of people and tents increased drastically. There were street vendors, carnies, food stands, and anything else you can imagine. Because it would have been really easy to get lost, we fell into a single file line and linked hands. It was quite funny as we would stop for a
while and then all of a sudden we would be running through the crowd. We must have looked like and incredibly large group of overgrown kindergarteners, which is kind of what I felt like as we were holding hands so as to not get lost. As we got very close to the basilica, we encountered people sleeping everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere, including sidewalks, street gutters, bushes, grass patches, and any other place they could find an opening. We were literally stepping over people as we walked. The people were waiting to participate in the mass that would take place the following morning at 8:00 am, which I guess was the most important/attended mass of the feast day. We were there to attend the Salesian led mass that would take place at 2:00 am. Although the majority of people attended mass in the plaza below the steps of the basilica, we got a sort of VIP treatment as we had served at Salesian affiliated volunteer posts. We were ushered into the basilica, where we were able to sit down and rest a bit or take pictures if we wanted to. Eventually we were allowed to go out
onto the enormous stage in front of the plaza and take seats behind the many priests that would be celebrating the mass. From our seats we looked out on the plaza and the tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of people gathered to pay their respects to Our Lady of the Miracles of Caacupé. The mass started around 2:00 am and was very youth-oriented and fun. The only problem was that many of us had slept so little in the past few days that we were really not able to stay awake. At one point when we were standing (on risers) I caught myself dozing off and almost fell off the riser (that would have been quite interesting to watch). The mass concluded and the priests all went out to stand in front of the image of Mary (who was surrounded by police officers, hence me believing that there is no separation between church and state), which was situated on the steps in front of all of the faithful followers. There She was, the statue that millions of people traveled hundreds of miles to see. I was really happy that I was able to be there to see Her and pray before Her. After the mass we met up with a number of people from Villeta (where I live) and piled in to a bus that was far too small for the number of people we had. I will not lie, standing on a bus for almost three hours after the long, hard weekend was not the ideal way to get home, but it was the only way. We arrived in Villeta a little after 6:00 am on Monday morning, concluding one of the most unique weekends I have experienced in recent memory.
Looking back on the weekend, I am still really amazed by the whole experience. I am extremely glad that I was able to experience something with so much meaning to the country of Paraguay, with such a strong connection to my religion. I walked away from my experience with mixed feelings. I was left in awe by how devoted so many people were to showing their adoration to Mary in such a unique way. I was inspired by the many young people that were so willingly serving the pilgrims. But there were also things about the experience that kind of bothered me. There were definitely times when I could almost not believe the suffering I was seeing, times when I just did not know how to react. One of the things that bothered me the most about the whole experience was the irresponsibility of some of the parents who were making the extended journey in the intense heat with small children. I understand that religion is important, but so is common sense when it comes to the safety of your children and their health. All in all, a very unique experience that will definitely stick with me for a long time, probably for the rest of my life.
If you made it through that whole blog, congratulations (probably the most epic post I will ever write). I just want to let you know that all is well on my end and that things are going fairly smoothly now. I will be traveling to Argentina/Chili in about a month, so any suggestions on things to see would be much appreciated. I hope all is well with you and that you are having a pleasant month of December. Good luck to all of you who have finals, it is definitely strange not being there with you. Oh, and also, it is really strange to not have snow, I do not even know how to handle Christmas without it. That’s all I have for now, check back in a few weeks for more exciting news.
Chau and Suerte,
-MWC
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Maggie
non-member comment
:-)
Hi Caldis! Wow, what a beautiful post! It's so cool to read about this happening far far away... I love that our Church is universal like that! The Solmenity of the Immaculate Conception (a wonderful feast that celebrates Mary and her special role as Jesus' Mother) was on Monday and it's beautiful to hear about how other cultures celebrate the Blessed Mother. Yay! I'll continue to pray for you and your work in South America.... you are a rock star!