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Pilgrimage to San Lazaro Sanctuary
El Rincon, Cuba
December 16 & 17, 2003

Every year on the 16th of December, Cubans come from every corner of the country to San Lazaro Sanctuary in El Rincon, a little town about 35km from Havana. The believers go there to pay the promises they had made to the saint and to give thanks for his mercy.

San Lazaro's day is the 17th. The journey begins the night before to be at the church at midnight. The whole ceremony takes about 3 days of people coming and going from the church.

The crowd is dense: some arrive on their knees - some dragging boulders, others flagellate themselves; the atmosphere is extraordinary amidst the pushing and shoving, as all come to pray and beg for a miracle.

Though some go to see San Lazaro, others are believers in Babalu Aye, the Santería counterpart. In Cuba, where Roman Catholic saints blended centuries ago with Yoruba deities brought by West African slaves, the distinction seems unnecessary to many. The parallel faiths bleed into one another. Each deity, or Orisha, has a corresponding Catholic saint, producing a religious syncretism that is distinctly Cuban.

The road to El Rincon is part carnival, part religious revival. Some are here for faith, others festivity. The air is chilly and pungent with cigar smoke and diesel exhaust.

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