After two years of being suspended due to the pandemic, this Friday the tradition of giving away waters and flavored popsicles in Catholic temples returns.
After two years of being suspended due to Covid, this Friday is celebrated in the capital of the state of Oaxaca, the Day of the Samaritan .
On Twitter, the governor of the state of Oaxaca, Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, wrote: “We Oaxacans celebrate a special day, the Day of the Samaritan; with solidarity and reciprocity, families show faith, devotion, and love for their neighbor. Oaxaca, the city where the heart gives itself with passion”.
The Day of the Samaritan is a unique celebration in the country that is celebrated every fourth Friday of Lent.
The tradition consists of giving away flavored waters, in the atriums of Catholic temples, parks and public places in the city, to refer to the biblical passage from the book of the apostle John, where Jesus asks for water to drink, from a well, to a Samaritan woman.
The historical records of the state indicate that the tradition dates back to the 19th century, when the temples of San Francisco and La Merced began, at the initiative of the parish priests, to give water to the devotees who attended the mass that took place three weeks before the Friday of Lent. .
This has been done since then, reproducing the well with illustrated brick paper, adorned with bougainvillea flowers and in some cases, with people representing Jesus and the woman who gave him a drink.
Currently, not only Catholic temples, but businesses and even private homes set up their stalls to give away traditional waters of chilacayota, horchata, jamaica and other flavors, as well as ice cream and regional sweets.
Through social platforms, people have called on the population to attend the celebration, bringing glasses from home and avoiding the use of disposable ones.
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