The ¨Virgin de Carmen¨

My summer in Peru is almost over, believe it or not! I will be back in the States in 2 weeks and 2 days, and our ministry in Chupa will end this coming Tuesday. We will be returning to Lima on Wednesday, and be there until Saturday, and then Karen, Lidman and I will head to Lidman´s home city, near the jungle. I am very excited about returning to the States and telling everyone about my many many adventures in Peru. I have so many stories to tell, both about our ministry here, and just interseting (and often hilarious) anecdotes that occured with my team, there are too many of them to list in this blog!

I have a lot to say in this blog, and I may end up going back and editing it at a later date. More than anything, I want to tell you a little bit about the cultural and religious situation in Chupa, and Peru as a whole.

This past week we caught a glimpse of the celebration of the Virgin de Carmen. Sunday night Lidman, René, Brett (our new team member from Bethelem Baptist Church in South Carolina) and I were preparing our own fiesta for Karen´s 20th birthday, and we kept hearing these big BOOMS! The next day I asked René about these, and he told me they were for the fiesta for the ¨Virgin de Carmen¨. Not only that, but Monday was the day for the actual ritual regarding this celebration, and I got to catch a glimpse of this, as Brett, our budding missionary photographer, wanted to take pictures. So Brett, René and I all went out to see. I learned a lot from René about this, and their Catholic celebrations in general.

They take the ¨Virgin¨ up the mountain that is behind where we have been staying the last two months. About a third of the way up there (I have climbed up to this point several times, as it is a nice, quiet place to pray and read your Bible), is this shrine of sorts, with a cross made of reeds next to it. Apparently, they take the ¨Virgin¨ up to this point and the priest for Chupa and Arapa (another nearby village) performs a Catholic ritual of some sort, and the people worship the ¨Virgin¨. The ¨Virgin¨ is accompanied by a man and a woman, both wearing banners across their chest, and this pair are supposed to be the godfather and godmother of the ¨Virgin¨.

Interestingly, if you had been there, you would see the priest and a nun (who are, oddly enough, Swedish, and as gringo looking as Karen and myself) come back way ahead of those carrying the ¨Virgin¨ back down the mountain. We asked René about this, and he said that the priest does not like to associate himself with the celebration, and only comes to perform the ritual, because the Pope wishes it, and does not believe in his heart that it is important.

This festival is mainly celebrated by the people who work at the hospital. After the ritual was over, there was a fiesta at the hospital in Chupa. By fiesta, I mean a fiesta where many of the participates, mostly the men, end up stone drunk.

I was very intrigued by this, and later asked him more...about the Catholic festivals in general. There are, if I remember correctly, 7 festivals in a year. One is on November 11th, a celebrating (and worshiping) San Martin de Tours, patron saint of the poor. René tells me that all the people of Chupa (and Peru as a whole) celebrate this festival. The results of the fiesta for this are horrible to think about this, and I imagine worse to see. People lying asleep in the streets, stone drunk. Men fighting with their wives, men fighting with each other.

Chupa consumes a very very large amount of beer for its small population in a normal week (I have seen the crates and crates of empty beer bottles). I am not against drinking in moderation, but the alcohol consumption in Chupa is astronomical. I can scarcely imagine the week of the festival for San Martin de Tours.

Well, I have so much more to talk about, but I have been on this computer for a very very long time, and I would suspect my friends are looking for me by now. I will probably write another tomorrow, regarding the recent strikes, and the mountain water pools of Chupa.