{"id":18607,"date":"2017-04-30T21:53:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T01:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=18607"},"modified":"2023-06-21T13:59:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T17:59:28","slug":"2023-san-antonio-meets-hackensack-nj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=18607","title":{"rendered":"2023 – “San Antonio” meets Hackensack, NJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

……………………………………………..<\/span>(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on June 20, 2023)<\/p>\n

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Yeah – that title makes no sense to me either\u2026\u2026\u2026..and it came about in an unusual manner (which is usual for me).<\/span><\/p>\n

Last Saturday morning, I heard music outside. It sounded like a not-so-professional band that I may have heard before. The sound faded away and I quickly forgot about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then it came back\u2026\u2026\u2026..it was moving, but not like a marching band. I looked out every window in my apartment. Of course, I saw something through the very last window – actually the tail end of something a couple of blocks away.<\/span><\/p>\n

There seemed to be many people involved and wearing colorful attire that I\u2019ve seen before. If I\u2019m right, I know where they\u2019re heading.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was dressed and out the door in two minutes. I saw the crowd across the park by my building and could hear them much louder now. They were headed exactly where I thought they would: Holy Trinity Church – the church of my childhood. This is the Ecuadorian sector of the parish that I usually see every New Year\u2019s Day in a musical procession to celebrate Fiesta de la Virgen de la Nube (Our Lady of the Cloud) – https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Our_Lady_of_the_Cloud<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what their processional route was, but in this PANO (click all to enlarge), they\u2019re turning the corner to go one final block to the church, whose steeple you can see in the upper right:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I asked two policemen what this event was about, but they weren\u2019t sure. I speed-walked down the street to get to the front of the procession to get a clue about what this was about\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026nada:<\/span><\/p>\n

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When they started moving again, I saw what looked like a religious icon with the words \u201cSan Antonio\u201d on it, but no Texans were depicted:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201dSan Antonio\u201d is \u201cSaint Anthony\u201d, better known as St. Anthony of Padua. Also on the icon were the words \u201cDanbury, Connecticut\u201d, so I\u2019m guessing a group from there was invited to join the festivities.<\/span><\/p>\n

As usual, there are always people dressed in wildly-differing fashion. I won\u2019t pretend to understand the symbolism, but it\u2019s quite a sight to see:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve shot a few \u201cOur Lady of the Cloud\u201d processions over the last dozen years or so (they go right past my apartment building), but I\u2019ve never seen women walking along with what look like incense holders (I remember priests shaking these things in our direction during mass decades ago):<\/span><\/p>\n

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It got kind of smoky when they (and San Antonio) all stopped right where I was standing (there\u2019s never a face mask around when you need one):<\/span><\/p>\n

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You KNOW deep down inside that there\u2019s some heavy-duty religious symbolism behind these outfits, but good luck trying to figure THAT out on your own:<\/span><\/p>\n

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It appears that everyone in the procession is now waiting to get into the church (you can see San Antonio\u2019s icon up by the front door):<\/span><\/p>\n

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So I jumped the line and got up on the top step of the church to get some shots I\u2019ve never seen before in the three-quarters of a century since my baptism at this church:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back down to the street to capture the whole scene, including the dancing symbolisms moving to the beat of the drummers on the left sidewalk:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s 22 seconds of sound. Hit the “Watch on YouTube” box (it gives a more accurate view count):<\/span><\/p>\n