La Divina Pastora dressed for Passion Week and normal attire Photogaph Courtesy Rudylynn De Four Roberts
Siparia was originally the site of a Spanish mission and a Capuchin pilgrimage church which houses La Divina Pastora, a statue of the Virgin Mary. The statue is venerated by Roman Catholics as well as Hindus, who see her as Mother Lakshmi or the Goddess Kali.
Father Martin Sirju comments:
Holy Thursday and Good Friday at La Divina Pastora bear the imprint of Hindu devotional religion or bhakti. For Catholics the centre of these two days is Christ; for Hindus it is Siparee Mai. The two devotions have been taking place side by side for over one hundred years.
Describing the devotions as they are today:
Many changes have taken place in these devotions over the years. This in itself is good for it shows that devotion is for people and not people for devotion.
At one time La Divina was housed in the church and dual devotion would take place, Catholics doing their thing on one side and Hindus doing theirs on the other.
To avoid the inevitable disruptions, La Divina is now placed in the Conference Room for most of Holy Thursday and part of Good Friday.
The celebration includes the Hindu tradition of cutting young boy’s hair for the first time to allow them to grow into strong, healthy men as well as feeding the poor, as the homeless and destitute lining the street outside of the churchyard would indicate.
The statue has recently been restored by the joint efforts of Robert Las Heras, Judi Sheppard, Rudylynn De Four Roberts, Ronald Guy James, Anna Serrao and Karene Ramkissoon.