Candelaria

Today was a busy day at the church.
They celebrated the Presentation of Jesus, which is also known as the Candelaria.
Everyone brings their statue of the baby Jesus from their nativity scene to have it blessed.

I asked the pastor why everyone also brings candles to bless on this day.
He said this is the day the church traditionally blessed all the candles to be used in the service during the year.

I would have liked to go see the blessing, but I was too busy selling candles.
I didn't sell as many as last year.
This year I sold only about 250 candles in 3 hours.

The most interesting thing is the baby Jesus statues.
People are very creative in the way they dress their statues.
The costumes are almost always home made and each one is unique.

I took a picture of these tiny statues when their people came in to buy their candles.
The one in the chair is only 2 inches tall!
Many other ones were life sized.