This Saturday, April 16, in Los Angeles, a parade of dogs, mounts, snakes and llamas lined up to receive holy water. Objective: to keep an iron health. Parishioner Pamela Zoolalia insisted on having her lama, Santiago, blessed. ” It is important. He survived a mountain lion attack a year ago. He is recovering from it and I think that being blessed will give him a long life”, she explains on this Easter eve.
The ceremony was canceled for two years in view of the health context, but this year, masters and animals of all kinds were able to meet again in Los Angeles. A moment not to be missed under any circumstances for Laurie Castro, owner of a pug named Wednesday. “Bringing her in every year to be blessed is a tradition because she is my child and she is part of my family so it is important to me that she be blessed,” says the Californian.
A tradition of more than 80 years
This curious practice of the City of Angels dates back to 1930. “In the past, the church blessed the animals so that they would be healthy and so that the village would also be healthy, since it depended on the animals for the food and work. In the end, it happened every year. And now, in Olvera Street, the archbishop comes here and blesses the animals every Saturday before Easter,” recalls Arturo Chavez, manager of the historic monument El Pueblo. Mexican-American Archbishop José Gomez has been in charge of the ceremony for several years.
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