The Catholic believers of Nicaragua recovered this Sunday a tradition known as the “Roza del camino”, which is part of the popular festivities in honor of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, after two years of interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After learning that the Catholic Church gave its approval to the “Roza del camino”, hundreds of faithful went to an old route that goes from the old center of Managua to the outskirts of the city to dance to the sound of philharmonics and pay promises to Santo Sunday of Guzman.
Catholics have not celebrated the “Roza del camino” since 2019, since the Catholic Church suspended said activity in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The “Roza del camino” is a tradition that has its origin in the cleaning, or preparation, that Catholic believers made of the mountainous path that traveled the image of Santo Domingo de Guzmán from the Las Sierritas community to the old center of Managua, each August 1, since 1886.
“Now it is paved, wide, to the ‘Roza del camino’ we have tried to give it that spiritual emphasis, of preparation. Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes has invited us to prepare ourselves with the holy rosary, to prepare ourselves spiritually,” said Father Boanerges Carballo, in charge of the Las Sierritas parish, where the image of Santo Domingo de Guzmán lives.
In addition to praying, the parishioners dedicated themselves to dancing and paying promises to Santo Domingo de Guzmán, just as they did before the pandemic.
The patron saint of Managua is Santiago de los Caballeros, a figure little celebrated in the Nicaraguan capital, where, on the contrary, the festivities in honor of Santo Domingo are the largest in the country, since they can attract more than half a million people. between August 1 and 10 of each year.
