Last night I arrived late to a parishioner’s house for a rosary in anticipation for February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation. When I got out of my car two young boys came up to me and gave me five. At the same time a lady called out to me from the door, “come on in Padre.” The young boys looked at me surprised. One said in an excited voice, “I’ve seen you at church. Are you el Padre?” I said yes. The other one said even more excited, “are you God?” I said no.
In between the mysteries of the rosary a Christmas song was sung and young girls held beautiful embroidered cloths, one girl on each side of the cloth. A statue of baby Jesus was placed over each cloth and the girls swayed him back and forth as they sang. At the end of the rosary, the young girls dressed up the statues with beautiful custom made clothes and placed the largest baby Jesus at the nativity scene. Small candles surrounded the nativity scene and the parish’s pilgrim Our Lady of Guadalupe was placed above.
The house was full of neighbors, I knew all of them. After the rosary we shared a wonderful meal and watched a video of the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the village of the host family.
It was a beautiful evening where I saw very old Catholic traditions alive and well. February 2nd, forty days after Christmas, commemorates the day Jesus was presented to the Temple according to Jewish law. This is why baby Jesus is dressed up at this celebration, so he may be presented at the Temple. In Mexico, those who found a baby Jesus in the Rosca de Reyes (Epiphany Cake) are responsible for bringing tamales for the February 2nd celebration.
Traditions such as this one play a very important role in the lives of Latin American Catholics. These old and venerable traditions came by way of Spain and can be traced back for centuries. They are a beautiful expression of the faith of Latin America where the Catholic Church has enjoyed a central and public role in civic life. It is a strong public faith that even antagonistic and anti-clerical regimes have not been able to extinguish.
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