Monday, March 16, 2009

Tortuga


Nestled in the hills of Monserrat, in Central Trinidad, amidst a constant twittering of birds, is the beautiful little church of Our Lady of Monserrat; a rustic wooden structure; overseeing, from the highest point of the Central Range, miles of cultivated land sloping down toward the coast of the Gulf of Paria.

Hundreds of Catholics visit Tortuga on September 8 each year to be part of the street procession in the patronal feast. This village church is famous for its statue of the Black Virgin, which is kept in a small niche inside the Church.
One reported view of how the statue came to Tortuga, is that it was brought there by the Capuchin monks from Spain.

The Spaniards were the ones who called the hills Montserrat Hills because they resemble Montserrat (mons serratus),a jagged set of hills in Barcelona, northeast Spain, where a famous monastery was built in 880 AD.

smell of rain-
circling circling
chicken hawks

My Tortuga Pics
link to Tortuga

16 comments:

Gabi Greve said...

Thanks for sharing a great place !

Gabi

Devika Jyothi said...

I loved reading that, Gillena...Trinidad is kind of familiar to me from the writings of VS Naipaul :)

a very playful haiku, yet more to it :)

wishes,
devika

John McDonald said...

great one Gillena (I've been to the spanish monastery where they have a black madonna too )
john

polona said...

nice to learn some more about other cultures...
lovely haiku, too

Magyar said...

Ooo Gillena, I liked the history, the photo collage, and the circling chicken hawks, riding the spooling winds!
_m

Ralf Bröker said...

Travelling to you and your haiku prose is a wonderful experience.

Best wishes
Ralf

Gillena Cox said...

Thank you to all of you for stopping by;
Devika, i too have read some VS Niapaul, my favourite is House of Mr Biswas.
Ralf welcome to Lunch Break

much love
gillena

Devika Jyothi said...

Oh same here, House of Mr. Biswas in one of my favourites too..then Miguel Street short stories as well.

Autobiographical writings are what i always love :)

wishes,
devika

Tikkis said...

Interesting mosaic, and thanks for the story!

J C said...

Love the history you wrote of. You blog always delights me.

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Perhaps they should rename the church Mary of the Chicken Hawks. :)

Macro Mary/Ruby/Yellow

Annie Jeffries said...

Dear Gillena. Thanks for sharing your lovely small church with us. And the bit of history as well.

rebecca said...

i feel so much love here today in the
swirling light.
thank you for your haiku song...

Hettienne Grobler said...

a lovely share on Mornings with Mary. I always enjoy finding interesting blogs.

Priti Lisa said...

It is always a joy to learn new things, see new places and meet other kindred souls! ♥♥

Maggie Grace said...

Love learning of different cultures and ways of viewing Mary. Your haiku captured my heart with your circling, circling. Wonderful!