Diario las Américas Newspaper, January 13, 1957, Page 23

- LIMA’S PURPLE MONTH By Hazel O'Hara The tourist who arrives in Pe- ru’s capital during the month of October might well write home that the women of this sophisticated city are addicted to wearing a Len- ten purple. He may also notice that the purple dress is always a plain little woolen with a white cord at the waist. What he is seeing is the costume worn in honor of El Senor de los Milagros, patron of Lima, to whom the city devotes the entire month of October. Three centuries ago a Négro painted the Crucifixion scene on the adobe wall of a littie hut used as a meeting plae. for his cofradia, a lodge with religious overtones. ‘e The same adobe wall now forms part of the structure. behind the high altar ofthe Church of the Nazarene, and the painting: is known as El Seftor de los Milagro (Christ of the Miracles). A replica o' this revered picture is taken out during October for three days of a ~rocession so great that the pul- sating traffic is rerouted from some main arteries of this city of nearly a million people. The peregrination of El Senor de los Milagros begins on the mor- ning of the 18th of October and continues all that day and the next (with an overnight stop at a church a'ong the way) and ends on the evening of the 19th at the home c uurch where a solemn novena be- gos. On the 28th, El Seftor goes forth again, with a tremendous concourse of men, women, and chil- dren behind him, to pass through the downtown area. I first saw the proecession at noon of the 19th, as it was swing- jng into the big parade grounds known as the Campo de Marte to pass the grandstand in which Ar- my officers stood at attention. High over the heads of the followers, I - could see a large silver framework around a:darned paining, with can- . dles and flowers massed in‘fron of it. The silver object moved along laboriously, a short distance at -a time. I found out later the image is so heavy that members of the Hermandad de Cargadores, or Bro- therhood of Bearers, can only man- age about 200 feet at a stretch in shifts of 26 men. We saw some of the Hermandad, their purple capes distinguishing them, as they drop- ped out to talk with friends, but for the most part these men march close to the image as a constant guard of honor. The women who sing in the procession also have their own society. About eight o’clock that evening I met the procession again, and now the image had come into its own, It shown with power and au- thority in the dusk over the head of the throng tthat blackened the broad Avenida Wilson as far as I could see. The silver object was now a great radiance moving through the early evening of a splendid city above tthe heads of shuffling man- kind. From the open_ windows and the balconies of the brick school on the corner, priests and boys, black against the lighted rooms, sang while El Sefior de los Mila- gros paused, and prayers were in- toned by the thousands of follow- ers. VISITS HISTORIC CHURCH The next afternoon I went down to the historic Church of the Na- zarene. The taxis, the busses, the automobiles had all been banished from several blocks of the aveni- da Tacna; litttle stands and whole blocks of white booths had taken their place. Women were tending their charcoal braziers over which tthte anticuchos of meat or fish sizzl ed on spits and the picarrones sput- tered in deep fat. The traditional Turrones de Dona Pepa were on sale everywhere; these cakes have become associattetd with the fes- tival justt tas the hott cross burns have with Lent. The Church of the Nazarene, which dates from 1771, occupies a corner that is like a stage setting, for tthere is a broad curve of pave- ment before the church, with an old-fashioned pharmacy to complete one side and flower venders to giver color and movement. The Reprinted by courtesy of GRACE LOG be Se Bt Be Be a ee Oa Be Be Be Oe Oa Be Oa Oa dies (from three inches to three feet high) were ubiquitously so- liciting all comers, but the effect of a fair stopped short of the church door. The scene within had that nobili- ty which comes from reverence, The church was crowded with peo- ple standing and gazing upon the image surrounded by candles and flowers on the altar platform,. The women’s heads were covered. with black lace. Many of the men wore purple neckties. I had intended edging my way up front to ask so- meone to lead me to the original painting behind the altar. but the crowd was too great. On another day, when the cere- monies were over, I returned and a member of the Hermandad took me behind the altar to see the painting. Although dark, and show- ing evidence of decay, the figures are still clear. Artists say it is not the work of some unknown master, but that it has merit. Yet such judgments are incidental, for the real interest of the outsider is sub- jective and he marvels at the as- cendancy to which this hidden painting has risen over this elegant city. I should warn today’s visitors that the ceremonies have been transferred to a little chapel around the corner, built as a temporary home for the replica, and that the Church of the Nazarene has been closed for repairs. More unfortuna- tely, the old wall behind the altar, so much older than the church, is quietly -mouldering away and the painting with it. Now Lima is a city in which the saints can make the headlines, and El Sefer de los Milagros has frequently been on the front page in stories reporting the condition and the efforts made to stem the ravages of the centuries. Perti’s best artists have shaken their heads, however, for the problem is not simply one of restoring a painting but of rejuvenating and old adobe wall which has gone through many damp winters. In the 1600s this area was on the rough outskirts of the elegant City of the Kings, as Liima is known for having been founded on the Feast of the Kings. Poor In- dians and Negroes lived threre. A group of the latter in the zone called Pachacamilla formed a co- fradia in 1650, and one of them painted the Crucifixion on a wall inside the hut which was their club- house. The painting was done in 1651, according to a document in the convent of the Nazarenes. The Virgin and Mary Magdalene were painted in at the foot of the cross later, and the Father and the Holy Spirit were added atfer some twen- ty years had gone by. EARTHQUAKE ROCKED LIMA On a Saturday afternoon in 1655 one of the worst earthquakes in the history of Peru rocked the city of Lima. The stoutest walls behaved like-reeds in a strong wind, and bells rang out discordantly in the towers that were swaying in all parts of town. The most substantial of buildings buckled and fell. Tre- mors occurred intermittently for some days, while the terrified lime- fios queued up before the confes- sionals in parks and plazas. The little hut used by the cofra- dia in Pachacamilla went down ex- cept for the wall bearing the paint- ing of the Crucifixion, which stood forth in the flattened district for all to see. In time the wonder lost its importance, but some faithful soul put up a makeshift roofing of banana leaves, and the accumulat- ing-ends of candles and scraps of dried flowers humbly testified to the prayers said in that place. The first regular caretaker who figures in any of the records was Antonio de Leén, a poor man of the neighborhood. He put up a somewaht stouter roof of reeds and devoted himself to keeping the place tidy. Stories of cures be- men hawking purple and white can- gan to circulate, and bit by bit SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 1957. In honor of El Senor de Jos Milagros, Lima’s women adopt a simple purple robe and white waist cord, people of the neighborhood fell in- to the habit of coming on’ Friday evening to sing the Miserere. These gatherings became so lar- ge that ecclesiasticar and civil au- thorities, taking into account the bad repute of the neighborhood, agreed to blot out the painting. A man was hired to do so, and given an escort of soldiers, just in case, bet when he climbee up tne Jadder and was about to apply the brush he was seized by a faintness and promptly came down and gave up the job. Two other painters tried and gave up because of a premoni- tion, a sudden fear. Se the painting won, andthe Viceroy himself, El Conde de Leén, came to see it and appointed someone to erect a decent ‘shelter and serve as official carataker. Nevertheiess, it remain- ed a humble neighborhood shrine. In 1673, Sebastian de Antuiiano arrived from Biscay in search of gold and silver. After a time he returned to Spain, but he lived possessed by the feeling that there was work for him to do in Peru, and eventually he returned. He ac- quired an hacienda, made trips to } Panama on trading expeditions, and } in the course of ten years amassed a fair fortune but he never lost his restlessness until his feet took him down to the shrine in Pacha @ camilla where he heard a voice tell him this was the spot for his work. Antumafio spent nearly all his fortune on the Jand alone. Adopting a monkish habit went to live near the painting, ac- ting as custodian and superintend- ; ing the construction of a better chapel with the alms _ that were left. When another fright- ful earthquake shook the ci- ty in 1687, Antuafano took a co- 3 py of the painting out in a peniten- tial procession. (The copy which is carried about the streets today is believed to have been painted in the eighteenth century). Just how it all happened nobody knows, but in time the rich and the fashionable were to be seen } on their knees-in this shrine. The city council took up the affairs of El Santo Cristo de les Milagros (as the painting was then known) in 1715, voting to recognize the de- votion as part of the religious life of Lima, and they made the festival day the same as the feat of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14th. In the days of Antufiano, another ; dedicated spirit had been drawn & to the scene, Dofia Antonia Maldo- mado de Quintanilla, a native of Guayaquil, Ecuador, After becom- 7 ing a widow, she founded an order of nuns devoted to the Nazarene, and chose as their habit a purple ; tunic, with a rope hanging from the’ neck and knotted over the chest. Neither she nor Antufiano, who provided the land for a con- vent beside his chapel, lived to see he | looking down when in 1730 the Viceroy himself called for the nuns - and followed, by long lines of la- dies and gentlemen escorted them to their convent. It is from this order of nuns you must secure permission to see the original paint- ing. Lay women copied the purple tunic in a costume to wear as a sign of devotion to El Sefior de los Milagros, and this is the dress seen on sO many women and girls of Lima during the months of Oc- tober. THE MOST EVOCATIVE SCENE To me, the most evocative scene is the final procession on the 28th of October. No matter what day of the week this falls on, El Senor de los Milagres and the multitude of followers command the streets of the downtown areas. I watched from a corner opposite the fashion- able Hotel Crillon; where tourists crowded the terrace, cameras glued te their eyes. This street is one of the busiest in the city, but now neither an automobile nor a trolley car was to be seen. The throng which moved slowly past the grand hotel had taken on sophistication, with women in furs, officers in un- iform, and any mumber of people who looked as though they might set store by their lineage mixed in with folk in ordinary clothes There was an occasional Indian in a handsome bright poncho anc his wife, wearing the full skiri and white hat of some mountaii village. Fair in front; I saw the imag: edging along above the massed heads and watched it disappear in- to the Plaza San Martin, from which the great crowd would fun- nel into the narrow Jirén de la Unidén, the street which every to- urist' remembers for its shops ef silver. Before I turned up a side street to leave, my mind returned once again to the humble Negro devout- ly painting the Crucifixion scene on a hut wall three centuries ago. the building, but perhaps they were A great procession procedes and follows Crusifixion painting, Pose 13