MIAMI (AP) — Hundreds of Nicaraguans sang in praise of the Virgin Mary at flower-and-light-filled altars set up in church parking lots as well as in the back of vehicles on the streets of Miami to mark the Dec. 8 feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The exuberant celebration called “gritería” is especially poignant this year during the ongoing crackdowns on religion in Nicaragua as well as on immigrant communities in the United States.
“We’re going to do it no matter what,” said Neri Flores, who traveled from Chicago to set up an altar with his parents for the vigil Sunday night. “It’s tradition, family, giving back to the community, keeping up the faith and positive vibes.”
In the back of a large rental SUV parked near a Catholic church, the family put a painting of the Immaculate Conception at the center of their altar. Flores’ mother carried the painting across the U.S.-Mexican border when she was pregnant with him in the early 1980s.
Next to them, another family set up a larger altar with half a dozen statues of the Virgin Mary — and had four generations helping out.
“All the blessings that we have are thanks to her,” said Michael Garcia, who was born in Miami but whose grandmother brought one of the statues when she fled Nicaragua. “For the Virgin, there is no impossible.”
Nicaragua’s ongoing crackdown on religion
A mid-19th century Vatican proclamation of the dogma that Mary was conceived free from original sin, which the Catholic faith teaches all humans carry, gave new popularity to the feast day worldwide. In Nicaragua, there’s a special tradition for familie …