Preparations:
In the pictures you can note two very different ways that people prepared for the feast of Our Lady of Altagracia. The Haitian children come from a tradition that remembers the importance of special clothes for a special event. The garments are the result of a promise made to Our Lady in a time of crisis. i.e. "If you help me now with . . . I promise to take my daughters to ..." The children sense that the feast is unique and they enter into it with as much understanding as they can. They watch as their grandmother stands before the image of Our Lady and speaks out loud to her, as if the person of Our Lady were right in front of her. These children do not know how to pray like that, but they see the example.
Andreina´s dance group:
In the second picture, Brachi holds a banner and dances to a modern song from Oregon Catholic Press. The beat lends itself to movement and dance. Brachi´s older sister, Andraina, has coached the girls in her group to dance pretty much the way they dance to popular music. For some, this display of talent is questionable. The bishop of Barahona, when he contemplated the dance, praised the girls for the work of upholding a cultural value: dance.
Aparecida:
When the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean met in Aparecida Brazil last year, they thought through the faith of the Church in the context of present reality. As they developed their thinking as well as their awareness, they hit upon the following: when the "New World" first met the Europeans it was an unequal cultural encounter. The one culture had weapons and immunity to different illnesses, while the other culture had no way to compete with the European culture in terms of language and writing etc. Now, the bishops observe, there is another unequal encounter between cultures: the modern individualistic culture of materialism and secular life is impacting upon traditional agrarian and religious cultures.
Upholding the best values of a culture:
Aparecida calls the Church to uphold the cultural values which give life to the people. The Altagracia feast counts as a strong cultural value for many Dominicans as well as Haitians. In fact, this ability of the same image of Mary to gather these two peoples together is highly unusual. But the cultural value is under siege. A major drug dealer in the area paid for the costly entertainment during the nine days of Altagracia´s feast. Just down the street from the Church you could observe a totally different scene, where the prominence is given to Bohemia, Presidente, Brugal and other alcoholic products. The musicians who came to town sang nothing of meaning relating to the culture of Altagracia.
The abuela:
The elderly lady observes all of this and more. She gathers material together and prepares the unique dresses for her two grand daughters. As she works, she pours her spirit into the garments. May they protect her children from the ravages of a sacred-less secularism. As she dresses them for the holy day, she prays for their holiness: "My dear ones, may your spirit be surrounded by the mystery of the Lady of Heaven."
