Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

For today's Christmas greetings, here is a photo of the holiest site in Costa Rica, the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles in Cartago. The cathedral is built on the site of what is considered a miracle in 1635, when a small black madonna statue mysteriously reappeared on a rock after an indigenous girl removed it several times.

People from all over Costa Rica make pilgramages to Cartago, located about 16 miles (25 km) from San Jose. During the holy week at the beginning of August, the little "La Negrita" statue is taken from the altar and paraded in the square in front of the Basilica. As many as one million people, nearly 25% of the population of Costa Rica, will visit the Basilica during that time period.

There is a spring next to the Basilica whose water is considered to have curative powers, and pilgrims will often pray for relief for the physical ailments of themselves or loved ones.

For those who celebrate Christmas, please accept these best wishes for the holiday, and I hope that everyone has a hoyous holiday season and and happy, safe, healthy and prosperous new year.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing the town of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It is a place from which people explore the Atacama desert and the Andes mountains.

7 comments:

Kate said...

You did a lovely job, photographing a beautiful church with lots of traditions. My daughter was in San Jose as a sixteen year old one summer, doing volunteer work with Amigos de Americas and living with a local family. She never mentioned this church; wonder what she and her friends did with their free time?!

May you have a delightful day, filled with friends and good cheer!

Kate said...

PS. David, since I still cannot enter the comment section of her post, tell Julie that I love your Christmas card!

Sharon said...

What a beautiful church! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas day!

Judy said...

This is a beautiful building and the sky is gorgeous!

Filip Demuinck said...

The Basilaca looks great. Have a Merry Christmas.

Greetings,
Filip

Memphis MOJO said...

Here's wishing you and Julie happy holidays and a happy new year.

Unknown said...

It's a fantastic building! Unfortunatelly I didn't make it to Cartago.

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