WOODCARVING & ACCESSORIES

The Annual Pilgrimage of More Than a Million Faithful to La Negrita, Costa Rica's Patroness

August 2 is a Costa Rica state holiday as upwards of 1.5 million folks make the yearly pilgrimage to pay their respects to and honor the nation's guardian saint, La Negrita (the Black Madonna), at a Catholic basilica in a rustic town of Cartago. The church and basilica are one of the Costa Rica attractions you should not miss, whether religious or not for they are drenched in history.

Hundreds of thousands of the devoted go by bus but many thousands walk the twelve miles between San Jose and Cartago. The pilgrimage is so holy in the country that its president and other important political figures take part in it.

Some even make the pilgrimage on their knees. In 2011, one man has been reported to have traveled more than 40 miles on his knees to go from his home to the Catholic church in Cartago.

Within the Roman Catholic church rests a black stone statue of Mary and Jesus reportedly dating from 1635 when, it is reported, a poor, dark skinned peasant lady discovered the black stone carving sitting on top of a boulder along a small stream. She took the statue to her house only to find it gone the day after and, yes, reappearing on the same boulder.

Over and overagin this happened. Every day when she awakened the statue would be gone and mysteriously show up again along the stream where take the statue home only to find it missing the next day and mysteriously back on the stone. Certain that God was sending a message to the tiny community, a church was built over the boulder and today, pilgrims and people on their Costa Rica vacation still see the boulder when they go into the church. The little black statue of La Negrita rests in a special basilica on the grounds the church.

Nearly 190 years back, La Negrita became the guardian saint of this Latin America country and in the mid-1850s Pope Pius IX announced that anyone visiting the Madonna would receive a full pardon for their sins. Whether you are religious , consider taking your car or bus to travel to Cartago which sits at the base of magnificent Irazu volcano.

When you go inside the church, you will visit the same place that Pope John Paul visited in the 1980s and, like him and millions of the faithful who've made the pilgrimage for over a century, be encircled by history.

While you are in Cartago, you can walk thru the ruins of a unfinished church a few blocks away from the basilica. Or, hop into your vehicle or tour bus and travel up the slopes of the magnificent volcano, Irazu, where on a clear day you'll be able to see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the same spot.

Cartago is one of the oldest communities in the country, granted its own coat of arms by King Philip II of Spain in 1565 and has endured a number of destructive earthquakes and eruptions that have repeatedly destroyed its buildings and churches.

The last giant eruption of Irazu occurred the day JFK visited Costa Rica and blanketed the city of San Jose with ash for two years.

Whether you have been to Costa Rica already or are anxious to do so visit the popular Costa Rica Vacations Blog for lots of great info. And, learn more about the history of the patroness, La Negrita, one of the country's many attractions.

Pilgrims in Stone. Stone Images from the Gallo-Roman Sanctuary of Fontes Sequanae (British Archaeological Reports (BAR) International) $107.50 The site at Fontes Sequanae, near Dijon in Burgundy, is notable for its rich imagery in wood and stone, and itssmall votive offerings in bronze. This book is a study of stone pilgrim imagery from the Gallo-Roman shrine to Sequanae, set in the wider context of a large number of curative cult-sites in Roman Gaul. The author looks at the religious and social significance of this type of iconography a…