Hialeah celebrates Nicaragua

By Dianelys Rodriguez -

HIALEAH | When Alcides Membreno and Donald Alvarenga lifted the Virgin of the Assumption on their shoulders, surrounded by flowers on the Cerro Negro volcano, heartfelt shouts rang out: "Who causes so much joy? The Assumption of Mary! Long live the Virgin Mary of Nicaragua! Nicaragua for Mary!"

So began the procession at St. John the Apostle Church in Hialeah, after the Mass for the feast of the Assumption celebrated by the parish’s pastor, Piarist Father Luis Alberto Cruz Baerga, Aug. 15, 2023. During this "Gritería Chiquita" (or "small shouting", in English), as the celebration is known, everyone processed wearing traditional attire to the parking lot area, which was decorated with flags and lights.

"We Nicaraguans are Marian. And just as we are noble, humble and united, we instill in our children the values of God and family first," explained Membreno. "Today’s celebration is a great opportunity, a privilege and recognition to Nicaragua, to Nicaraguans as a people and to the contributions of our community to the city of Hialeah."

"Today we received the official proclamation declaring this date as Nicaragua Day in Hialeah. It is an initiative of Mayor Esteban Bovo and Councilwoman Vivian Casal-Muñoz, who themselves are Catholics and regularly attend our parish, which was the first one founded in this city," said Glenda Reoyo, advisor to St. John the Apostle’s young adult group and director of a fellowship ministry called El Dador Alegre (The Joyful Giver).

"In Hialeah, we Nicaraguans found a home that welcomed us and a place to express our Catholic faith," Reoyo added. "This proclamation is in gratitude to the Nicaraguan community and its significant social, economic, cultural and religious contribution."

Celia Álvarez and Jairo Blandón have lived in Hialeah for 16 years. They came with their son Jairo Jr. to the "Gritería Chiquita," as they do every year.

"It makes me very nostalgic because it brings back a lot of memories of my town, of my homeland. It makes me feel everything that comes from being far away from my country, but at the same time I am happy because we are celebrating the Virgin, which is a tradition that is very much our own in Nicaragua," said Álvarez.

For Jairo Blandón, the "Gritería Chiquita" is "a celebration that makes us live emotionally our Catholicism and parish membership."

Maestro Bobby Ramírez is founder and president of the Instituto Folklórico Cubano Americano (Cuban American Folkloric Institute), and together with Reoyo has played a leading role in the organization of this Marian celebration. They recalled the miracle of the Virgin in the city of León, Nicaragua, on Aug. 15, 1947, when the Cerro Negro volcano, the youngest in Central America, erupted.

The seismic activity of the volcano was destroying the city. The ashes sank the roof of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, and during the novena, the devotees pleaded with the Virgin to stop so much disaster, Reoyo recounted. "Then, precisely on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the volcanic eruption of Cerro Negro ceased. From that moment on, León was safe under her protection."

"Many families live in Hialeah today, not just from Nicaragua, but from León, which is why so many people come," Ramírez explained. "It was always a celebration by older people," he added, "but this year the youth have organized and prepared the whole festivity, as a way of showing that the Church is still alive, and that the faith continues through them."

Escarleth Membreno's parents were born in León. She is part of the parish's young adult group, Discípulos Amados de Jesús y María (Beloved Disciples of Jesus and Mary), and proudly displayed her traditional white and blue dress, which was also worn by other young women.

"On this occasion, we wanted to offer traditional dishes such as 'vigorón', made up of yucca, pork rinds and cabbage salad with onions, tomatoes and carrots; also 'arroz a la valenciana', with different meats and vegetables. As desserts, we put on the tables 'pioquinto' (a rum and custard cake), fritters, 'cajeta' (a soft, milk-based candy), and traditional drinks such as 'chicha' (a corn-based drink), cocoa and Milca soda," noted the young Membreno when describing the organization of the festivity.

The Ballet Folklórico Guardabarranco and the Ballet Folklórico Nuestras Raíces Nicaragüenses performed colorful and beautiful dances to the rhythm of the Nicaraguan marimba. "El Solar de Monimbó", "El Sapo", "Aquella Indita", among other popular melodies, brought back memories of happy times for many, and not so good experiences for others.

Byron Estrada is another member of the Discípulos Amados de Jesús y María who were responsible for some of the decorations for the event. The young man was a political prisoner and suffered torture under Daniel Ortega's regime when he was a dentistry student at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) in León.

"They were very difficult moments, very tough, but I always entrusted myself to the Virgin as helper and intercessor," Estrada said. "In this celebration we ask her protection for the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, and for the priests fiercely persecuted and detained by the Sandinista dictatorship."

"Having the delivery of the Proclamation of Nicaragua Day in Hialeah coincide with our 'Gritería Chiquita' to the Virgin is something extraordinary for all the families of Nicaraguan descent in this city," said Membreno. "It helps us to recognize each other, to come together, and I feel that the Virgin Mary receives and sustains us in the face of the very difficult situation that Nicaragua is going through today.

"As our national poet Rubén Darío wrote: 'If the homeland is small, one dreams it large.' I believe that we are at the foot of the Virgin and of God," concluded Membreno.