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El Senor de los Milagros in Pachacamac
Two days from now, October 18, Lima will be gripped by El Señor de los Milagros fever. That’s the day when hundreds of thousands of purple-clad devotees take part in an elaborate street procession to celebrate a 350-year-old miraculous Christ icon. (See my post on “Purple Month and the Lord of the Miracles,” Oct. 10, 2008). While Lima’s procession draws the largest crowds, towns throughout Peru celebrate with equal fervor. Images made of flower petals are painstakingly arranged along processional routes, to be trod upon by hundreds of devotees singing, chanting and carrying a replica of the miraculous Christ image. Children, parents and elders take part. Some people fall on their knees and…