Miami — Hundreds of Nicaraguans sang their praises Mary In the flower- and light-filled altars set up in church parking lots as well as in the back of vehicles on the streets of Miami to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.
The exuberant celebration called “gritería” is particularly poignant this year during Continuing campaigns against religion In Nicaragua as well as in Immigrant communities in the United States.
“We’re going to do this no matter what,” said Nery Flores, who traveled from Chicago to set up an altar with his parents for Sunday night’s vigil. “It’s tradition, family, giving back to the community, keeping the faith and positive vibes.”
In the back of a large rented SUV parked near a Catholic church, the family placed a painting of the Immaculate Conception in the center of their altar. Flores’ mother carried the painting across the US-Mexico border when she was pregnant with him in the early 1980s.
Next to them, another family set up a larger altar featuring six statues of the Virgin Mary, helped by four generations.
“All the blessings we have are because of her,” said Michael Garcia, who was born in Miami but whose grandmother brought one of the statues when she fled Nicaragua. “For a Virgo, nothing is impossible.”
The Vatican’s mid-19th-century declaration of the doctrine that Mary was conceived free of original sin, which the Catholic faith teaches that all human beings carry, gave new popularity to the feast around the world. In Nicaragua, there is a special tradition for families to create home altars and then go to visit others and sing from house to house.
But these celebrations have either been stifled or co-opted by the Nicaraguan government in an intense religious persecution that human rights advocates, exiled priests and the US government say is one of the most severe in the world.
Like many Latin American governments that trace their roots to socialist revolutions, Nicaragua’s co-presidents, Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, have had the lion’s share of success. Unequal relationship with religious leaders For decades.
But since civil protests were violently suppressed in 2018 and A human rights crisis is unfoldingThe government pursued Catholic priests and nuns, whom it accused of supporting the unrest. Clergy and secular observers say the church has become the only voice resisting state violence and helping its victims.
There were hundreds of Christian clergy and laity Imprisoned and exiledMany religious celebrations have been banned, and many remaining believers say they are under strict surveillance.
In the United States, the Trump administration He sought completion Extended and temporary Legal protection for about 430,000 immigrants From Nicaragua, as well as from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. It’s part of Continuous repression on immigrants across the country, spreading fear in many communities.
But at St. John Bosco Catholic Parish in Miami — where most of the 3,000 member families are from Nicaragua and Honduras, many of whom are undocumented — more than a thousand people lined up Sunday evening to sing and pray in front of altars set up in the parking lot and main road in front of the church.
“Today’s event is about a gesture of trust,” said Pastor Yader Centeno, also from Nicaragua. “For the people here, this is a moment to strengthen their faith. And to share a message with those in Nicaragua that we are here free.”
Some altars had elaborate balloon arches, strings of twinkling lights and massive sound systems, while others merely had a small statue of the Virgin surrounded by fresh palm fronds in hatchbacks.
As visitors arrived at each altar, they broke out in a “grito,” or traditional cry, which many also wrote on T-shirts — with the Spanish for “Who is causing all this joy? Mary’s Conception!”
They then sang traditional hymns to the Virgin while families and other groups who created the altars donated toys, traditional foods such as yucca and cicero, and small religious souvenirs such as Swimming pools – A great show of community support as most of them planned to serve at least 500 people.
“I’m so happy. Having this tradition outside my country is great,” Scarlett Despas said as her husband finished setting up the hatchback altar by connecting the lights to the car’s battery. “Our ancestors instilled this belief in us.”
Many said they undertook this expensive mission as a promise to Our Lady, to express gratitude and ask for protection in the United States and for their families in Nicaragua.
Claudia Fuertes, who came to the United States nearly two decades ago, set up a giant balloon arch in white and blue — the traditional colors of the feast day and also the Nicaraguan flag — to frame the altar on the back of a pickup truck next to the Sanctuary of St. John Bosco.
“I have faith that Nicaragua will be free one day,” Fuertes added.
In suburban Miami, hundreds attended St. Agatha Catholic Parish for Sunday Mass — and others watched the live stream. the Pastor Silvio BaezThe Auxiliary Bishop of Managua urged them to speak out against those who use faith to oppress the weak and those who bow before worldly powers.
“The Virgin will not forget our people, and one day, Nicaragua will be free,” Baez said before leading the congregation in the traditional “grito” of Mary.
Baez left Nicaragua in 2019 because the late Pope Francis told him he had to do so to save his life. In the past few months, with Pope Leo XIV After Baez’s papacy, Baez began giving powerful and frank sermons again to Miami audiences.
St. Agatha’s pastor, the Rev. Marcos Sommarripa — who came from Nicaragua as a teenager decades ago — said the situation for the faithful in Nicaragua remains dire. He said people there must get permission from the government to hold massacres, and some traditional colors are banned.
But he said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, from their experience in Florida, must understand how bad conditions are for persecuted people in countries like Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela — and they must make sure U.S. immigration policies reflect that.
“The US government must take clear measures to protect the Nicaraguan people who came here because they lost their homeland,” Sommarripa said.
Near St. John Bosco Church, Oscar Carballo was making the rounds around the altars, singing to the Virgin, after wooing relatives who were reluctant to come out because of social media rumors about immigration enforcement.
He stopped at the Flores family altar.
“Here you feel as if you are in your own courtyard,” he said, pointing to a picture of the Virgin Mary. “The only thing I ask of her is that we can stay here, and that there be peace. Everywhere.”
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