Well what do you know?

For the two years that we’ve been living at the apartment -that we are leaving in T-minus 21 days (our lease begins on the 15th but we’re physically moving our things on the 25th)- every six months or so the church down the way (I assume that it’s on Carroll between 2nd and 4th Avenues) does this really awesome processional along Carroll Street from their church to (I assume) 7th Avenue.

The first time I saw it -one sleepy Sunday morning… bleary eyed and under-caffeinated- I had no idea what was going on. There was a prayer in Spanish being blasted from a car with loudspeakers on the top and there was music played by live musicians and the Statue of the Virgin Mary carried aloft by four men. I was instantly entranced but then months went by without it happening again and I forgot about it.

The second time I heard the loud speakers and the music I jumped out of bed to watch them pass. There were children in white and balloons. And I noticed, this time, the flag that the paraders were carrying.

After a little bit of internet searching I discovered that it was the Columbian flag.


Today when it happened again, I noticed that the loud speakers were playing the Hail Mary in Spanish and that the music was more somber, a little bit like a New Orleans funeral dirge so…
I did a little bit more researching (after all, this is probably the last time that I’ll have this experience and… well, it was something that always made me feel happy. It’s one of those, “Yeah, I live in NYC” moments and I will miss all of those families parading up the street in observance and in celebration) and the closest thing that I could come to an explanation for today’s procession is that it’s an Ascension Day rite.

I wonder what kind of public displays I’ll see in the PLG.