Manda y Peregrinación

Striker Anita Contreras, pictured below, proposed a manda y peregrinación, or an offering and pilgrimage, to ask God to intervene on behalf of the strikers.  After a five-day hunger strike strikers proceeded on their knees for a half mile from the plant on Walker Street to St. Patrick's Church on Main Street. Contreras would later see an apparition of the Virgen de Guadalupe in the bark of a tree at Pinto Lake that has since been a shrine visited by pilgrims.

One article below identifies the leader of the procession as Anita Contreras, the other identifies her sister Esperanza Contreras.  Both sisters participated in the pilgrimage, with twenty-some other pilgrims and several children.

Questions

  • What role might the faith of the workers play in their sense of purpose? 
  • How is the use of a religious tradition, the pilgimage, a way for the strikers to unite with the community?

A woman walking in pilgrimage on her knees. Behind her is St. Patrick's Church, on her left is a woman holding a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, on her right is a woman holding a image of Jesus Christ.

 

Text of article Below (PDF) Download Text of article Below (PDF)

A woman in a baseball cap proceeding on her knees to the church. Beside her are two supporters standing and holding images of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Jesus Christ.

"New Hope in Watsonville Strike Links to an external site.." Santa Cruz Sentinel, 11 Mar. 1987, Santa Cruz Public Library Local History.

"Pilgrimage." Register Pajaronian, 11 Mar. 1987, pg. 15.

Note:  The Register Pajaronian is available online through the Watsonville Public Library.