La Chiquinquirá in Maracaibo

I did not realize that I would be commenting on the Zulia results today, day of La Chinita, or Virgen de la Chiquinquirá, the patroness of Maracaibo and Zulia state. One of the 4 principal veneration images of Venezuela with La Coromoto for all of Venezuela, La Divina Pastora for Lara and Yaracuy and La Virgen del Valle for Margarita and the Eastern part of the country.

The celebrations of La Chiquinquirá hold a particular place in Venezuela as it opens officially, for all practical purposes, the Christmas season. In Zulia state business is pretty much over from now until mid January. For the rest of the country from now on "gaitas" will occupy our air waves and bring out our equivalent to Christmas spirit. And a blog entry from a Venezuelan blog written in Maracaibo for the local flavor.

Tonight I will limit myself to salute the Zulia people in their day, congratulate them for resisting Chavez and I will wait for tomorrow to post my electoral analysis for the region.

An image of the reliquary of the sacred wood tablet where the miraculous icon appeared in 1709, or so does the legend tells us. It came floating from the lake to an elderly woman doing her laundry. The Miracle was when the image appeared. Our own version of the Guadalupe.



Salve regina!