Del corazón de América: Santa Ara

Happy October 24^th! What is October 24^th, you might ask…October 24^th is the day of Saint Rafael, the patron saint of my community Ysypo Potrero. According to the 2002 census (and according to Wikipedia) 89.9% of the Paraguayan population is Catholic. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone is “practicing.” In many ways similar to the Israeli experience of Judaism, in many cases this means that Catholic traditions are part of people’s identities, an underlying narrative, but not necessarily “commandment” status. In my community, there is mass once a month, weekly first communion classes run by volunteers from the community, and a pro-Church committee that raises money for maintenance fees, organizes when the traveling Father is going to come, and keeps the keys to the building.

Despite the chiloni (secular/cultural) flavor of Catholicism in my community (even when there is mass, most community members don’t attend), Ysypo Potrero like most communities in Paraguay has a patron saint, a Catholic saint (intermediary with god) who watches over the community. Ysypo Potrero’s saint is Rafael archangel—a seraph/angel who appears in Jewish tradition as well (c.f. short songs section of Anim Zmirot bencher).

As the name (in Hebrew) implies, Rafael is specifically connected with healing. In Catholic tradition, every saint has a special day that is their festival, and since Rafael is the patron saint of Ysypo Potrero, that means we have a special mass/celebration here on the 24^th of October, the santa ara (Saint’s Day in Guarani).