The celebration of the anniversary of the patron saint of the parish
church is an important event. The little vice-parroquia (district
church), where the annual feast is held, is generally whitewashed,
and has a tile roof, blue doors, and yellow painted windows, and is
topped by a square belfry tower. It is usually situated upon a slight
elevation from which the ground slopes down to a nearby country road.
The only relief to the monotony of the dreary surroundings is a few
flowering shade trees. About the time the “novena” is concluded, carts
begin to arrive and form in line along the roadside. As the crowd
augments the scene resolves itself into one of animation and activity.
People are constructing out of tree boughs, places of temporary
residence, in which they sleep and where they conduct a small business
during the festival. Women are engaged in bringing in firewood and
jugs of water, which they carry on their heads. Oxen are unhitched
from carts and driven home, as the feast lasts many days. Often as
many as fifty carts, covered with canvas, branches of trees or skins
are arranged side by side in close proximity. They serve as places of
shelter for the owners, who remain throughout the feast. Each cart is
supplied with a barrel of chicha, wine and aguardiente, and also with
fowls and vegetables, from which is made cazuela, to supply the hungry
crowd.
During all the day before, and up to the hour of the feast, which
begins at midnight, active preparations for the event continue. People
are arriving from every direction, those from a distance on horseback,
and those from the neighborhood on foot, each carrying a quantity of
supplies to eat or drink, and each expecting to do a little business
on the morrow, and succeeding days, in the way of catering to the
appetite or thirst of the mixed multitude. Some are ladened with skin
bags filled with wine or chicha, others carry earthen pots or baskets
containing such articles as they may have to dispose of. Fires are
blazing, pots are boiling, and the scene along the roadside resembles
a miniature military camp, with active preparations for the customary
meal of soup and beans going forward.
Later the crowd is divided into groups, squatting upon the ground
and eating from black earthen dishes. There is a tapping of barrels,
uncorking of skin bags and earthen jugs, in which the supplies of
liquor are stored. Small groups of gentlemen, or families, possessing
a little more money than the average persons present, are seated at
home-made tables, which are covered with coarse sacking. All are merry,
and apparently happy to renew acquaintances, many of which have been
neglected since the last feast of our lady of mercy, Santa Mercedes,
the patroness saint of the little church where the feast is being held.
The parish priest has not yet arrived from his parochial residence,
hence the feast has not formally begun. A murmur along the line of
feasters announces the approach of the cura, the church bells peal
joyously, and the crowd files into the little church, where lighted
tapers and gilt images add a spectacular effect to the scene. The
priest preaches a pleasing sermon, for the purpose of conciliating his
congregation, which has not yet made its offering to the virgin. At
the conclusion of the service the people give to the priest such money
as they think they can afford to contribute, or that which has been
entrusted to them by others who could not attend. They have come from
every section of the surrounding country, some from great distances,
who wish to show their gratitude to this particular saint, for favors
they may have received, or may desire to receive in the future. The
priest is not made aware of the object of the donations. The donors
place their faith implicitly in the saints, believing that they will
execute the bequests. These poor contributors for the most part have
nothing to do with the particular church where the offering is made.
As an example, in case of serious illness or threatened calamity in a
family, the friends or relatives, as the case may be, make a vow that
if spared the impending trouble, they will give a certain amount to a
certain saint for a given number of years. These promises are usually
redeemed, and the obligation is discharged at the particular church
patronized by the saint to whom the promise is made. Many individual
instances might be cited to illustrate the fidelity with which these
people make offerings to the saints.
The day following the midnight services is “La Mercedes,” and the
early morning shows hundreds of additional votaries en route to the
church. After the morning mass the image of the virgin Mercedes,
bedecked with flowers, is removed from the church altar, and carried
at the head of a procession that marches about the church. The priest,
leading the procession, and reciting prayers, is showered with flowers.
After this parade the image is again placed upon the altar, there to
remain until the following year, September 8th, which is the date of
the anniversary of Mercedes. The priest then goes his way and the
real fiesta, for which a majority of those present have come, that of
eating, drinking, dancing and carousing uninterruptedly for several
days, begins. The scene about the church presents some features
peculiarly novel and picturesque. The hundreds of people dressed in the
costumes of the country, in which bright colors predominate, dozens of
clumsy bullock carts, and hundreds of horses huddled together in the
church grounds, where they remain for days without being unsaddled,
and in many instances without food or water, are some of the features
of this feast day picture. There are improvised dance halls, bowling
alleys, and every cart and temporary hut is turned into a shop where
is dispensed such articles as those in possession may have to offer.
At each place where liquors are dispensed there is singing, dancing
and music of guitars. Everyone seems to have something to sell, and
money with which to buy. Having made their contributions to our lady
of mercy, they pursue the god Bacchus with enthusiasm and reckless
indulgence. Good fellowship prevails, drinks encourage generosity and
the feast goes merrily on.
This festival falls upon a date that marks the approach of spring in
Chile. The espino is in bloom, and the odor of the yellow blossoms of
that repellant, thorny bush, which grows abundantly throughout the
country, fills the air with sweet perfume; birds in the mating season
are revelling in the first green of the trees and the bloom of wild
flowers. Under clumps of blossoming trees women are cooking cakes and
vending sweets, while señoritas send winning glances at young men who,
too often under the influence of liquor, are easy preys to the arrows
of cupid. The feast continues to increase in interest and enthusiasm
for three or four days, continuing night and day, when it reaches the
climax, after which from loss of sleep and deficiency of drink, the
tide begins to recede, and the crowd to decrease. At the end of the
sixth or eighth day, at the farthest, the last of the crowd disperses,
leaving only the trodden grass and the blackened remains of camp fires
as evidences of the greatest and merriest local frolic of the year.