Shannon Costello

I have used this word in the past to mean ‘to tie’ (as in a game), but there are other meanings.  It can mean ‘to balance out’, for example, if one works a lot one day but takes the next day off.  A common saying is ‘Él que peca y reza empata.’  I could tranlate that as ‘He who sins and prays balances out.’

I wondered how much that idea influenced some of the people doing pilgramages in honor of Costa Rica’s patron- ‘La Negrita’, which is one of the many names that Mary the mother of Jesus has taken in the Catholic faith here.  Perhaps I explained some of this earlier?

While driving through San José Saturday, MIL noticed that all the people were walking in the same direction.  They were all walking to the church in Cartago to pray to La Negrita.  There is something about seeing a hundred plus people at a time all walking for such a purpose.  Our tour guide parked about a block from the church so we could go see it- he was concerned that it would be difficult to drive any closer.  There were a lot of people.  There appeared to be a sort of continuous service going on outside the church…we could hear a singer (cantor?) and organ music.

The church had a main entrance and two side entrances in the front part of the building.  The middle entrance (by far the largest) had a sign announcing that one should go through that entrance if one wanted to approach the altar on one’s knees.  We took the side entrance…certainly we were there as tourists.  People travelled the whole length of the church on their knees.  One man was holding a video camera as he did so.  There were a lot of people and the church was beautifully decorated.  It left a strong impression on me.

Roughly translated, the church bishop said the following (I got this from today’s paper):  ‘Let us take off the dirty rotten rags that are filling us with agression, intolerance and a lack of respect for life, and let us put on the pure clothing of the Virgin, the dress of love for one’s neighbor, and so we will have a better Costa Rica.’