(EFE).- Faith, health and a better country are requested by many of the Cuban devotees of San Lázaro who arrive this Sunday, after a pilgrimage that in some cases started the day before despite the rain, to the sanctuary of El Rincón on the outskirts from Havana.
The road that leads to the temple, place of worship of the Cuban patron saint of miracles, is less traveled than in previous years due to inclement weather and adverse forecasts. The difficulties in the daily lives of Cubans after three years of serious economic crisis lead them to continue asking the saint in his day.
The rain does not prevent people like Regla Mercedes from going “to fulfill” their promise. “I asked him for health and to take into account the Cuban people for the things we are going through,” this 52-year-old librarian told EFE while she carries a medium-sized version of San Lázaro.
The rain does not prevent people like Regla Mercedes from going “to fulfill” their promise. “I asked him for health and to take into account the Cuban people for the things we are going through”
On her way to the sanctuary, this lady laments that “a country so beautiful and so humane is like this, it makes you want to cry,” in reference to the economic crisis that hits every day the most humble Cubans who, like her, hide behind the faith to “endure.”
There is little influx of pilgrims who, on foot, on their knees and even crawling along the street, reach the temple that stands on the grounds of an ancient leper colony.
However, the faithful who decide to take the path and fulfill their promises fill the streets dressed in purple, the color that represents this saint and also the “orisha” Babalú Aye, the Afro-Cuban deity with whom Saint Lazarus is identified.
This is how Dariel Alejandro Ortega is dressed, who is wearing jute and purple clothing, carrying a basket with a very small Saint Lazarus and smoking what is left of a cigar.
“I come to ask you for health, but also for improvement because things are in hot water,” he explains to EFE, while asking that they “collaborate” with some money.
“I have a lot of faith in him. He is a miraculous saint and that is what Cuba needs now: a miracle,” says the man in his 40s.
“I have a lot of faith in him. He is a miraculous saint and that is what Cuba needs now: a miracle”
At his side is Osmany Fuentes with his wife and his little girl carried in his arms and he also says that he will continue to attend these pilgrimages every year to “thank the saint for keeping his family together, despite the problems.”
As is traditional, there are also those who travel several kilometers dragging huge stones tied to their feet, or others who walk kneeling regardless of the dirt on the road.
The pilgrimage concludes inside the sanctuary where those who finish the journey barefoot light white and purple candles and thank the miraculous saint with tobacco and flowers. A Christian celebration takes place early on Sunday to welcome all pilgrims.
They say that some have even lost consciousness due to so much sacrifice and that they give up as soon as they reach the altar.
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