Reyneri Huete delicately controls the iron while she smoothes the clothing that bit Bruno will use at the banquet that gathers together numerous dogs in a church in Nicaragua, whose masters thank or request wonders to San Lazaro.
The 27-year-old female disrupts Bruno’s leaping, who at 7 years of ages is still passionate, and fragrances and gowns him with the newly ironed garment that mimics a tuxedo, to leave her house for the church of Santa María Magdalena.
“We bathe him from very early in the morning, we get his clothes ready, year after year we change them, this year he goes as a gentleman with his tuxedo and vest, to give thanks to Saint Lazarus,” Huete said when talking about the story of Bruno, a schnauzer and cocker spaniel mix.
“He (Bruno) had a problem in this ear, he was operated on, and obviously we went to Saint Lazarus for him to intercede for his healing and thank God he had a good cure his operation,” includes Huete.
Dogs of various types, colors and sizes exchange smells and barks in a centuries-old custom in the native community of Monimbó in the city of Mayasa, 30 kilometers from Managua.
Nazareth Baltodano, 30, got to the church with Mancha, a one-year-old Chihuahua who had actually been kicked out by a vet after a wasp sting complicated her.
“We came to pay a promise because two weeks ago she almost died because a wasp stung her and she fainted, she started to convulse,” she said.
The dogs are brought prior to a picture of the saint, tutelary saint of the poor and ill, on among the sides of the altar of the temple, in thankfulness for prefers credited to him.
The banquet stems from the Gospel parable about the abundant man and Lazarus, a beggar whose sores were licked by dogs.
We keep custom
Priest Bismark Conde describes that in Christian custom St. Lazarus is associated as a canine life saver.
“Here in the town of Monimbó in the face of plagues that have always attacked not only people, but also animals, the image of Saint Lazarus was a point of reference to also safeguard the life of these creatures,” he informs AFP.
The dogs wait their turn prior to the image of the saint, embellished with flowers and surrounded by candle lights, in the middle of spiritual tunes.
“We go around paying the promise to San Lazaro because he has worked miracles for us,” Rosa Rodriguez, who animals her animal Sasy, who months previously almost lost an eye from a blow, informs AFP.
“We always keep the tradition of paying promises to Saint Lazarus for our puppies, so we ask him for sanity, for health, so that if at some point they get sick, it won’t be serious,” Huete concludes.
