Lima honours Lord of Miracles: 15-10-2007
The tail-end of October will see one of Peru's most important celebrations take place in Lima, when a religious miracle is celebrated.
From October 18th to 28th, the Senor de los Milagros, or Lord of Miracles, festival takes place to honour Lima's patron saint, with bullfights, street parties and a procession, which is the largest religious parade in South America.
The story goes that a slave, brought over from Angola in Colonial times, drew a black Jesus Christ image on the wall of a hut in the plantation of Pachacamilla, where he was kept and no one was able to erase it. Since the verification of the occurrence by the church, the Lord of Miracles has become Lima's patron saint.
Today hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans dress in purple tunics - the colour dedicated to their saint - to sing hymns as they carry a statue representing the image on a 24-hour procession from the church of Las Nazarenas to the church of La Merced in Barrios Altos in a mist of incense.
Visitors to Lima can sample typical dishes and sweets, such as Turron de Dona Pepa, a paste flavoured with aniseed and fruit syrup, from the stalls that line the streets. Spiritual trinkets are also on sale to celebrate the Lord of Miracles.
The way in which Peruvians perceive the occurrence of miracles does not pertain to grandiose affairs, such as the parting of seas or feeding 5,000 people with barely any provisions, but rather denotes something far more everyday. Residents of Lima who are not taking part in the parade may also wear purple as a sign of gratification for a small personal miracle of their own.
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