Uruguay Edition
Dia de la Candelaria leads today's complete edition for Uruguay.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
The Virgin of Candelaria is venerated across northern Chile, especially in the mining towns where faith is the only thing stronger than the desert. Processions carry her through streets lined with copihues and copper dust. The miners pray to her before every shift and she has never let them down.
Along the Rambla and at Playa RamÃrez, Uruguay's Afro-Umbandist communities gather at sunset to offer white flowers, candles, and perfume to Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea. Boats carry offerings into the Rio de la Plata. If the offerings sink, she accepted them. If they float back, she did not. Nobody wants to see their flowers come back.