Peregrinaje de SAN FRANCISCO (BANICA)

Every October, thousands of people make their pilgrimage to El Cerro de San Francisco (“Hill of Saint Francis”). The shrine sits inside a cave in the belly of the hill and has served as an earlier site of spiritual celebrations for Tainos and Africans. The shrine is in Banica, Elias Piña (Dominican Republic), a town bordering Haiti, on the banks of the Artibonite River. It draws pilgrims from both sides of the island. They come to worship, pray for miracles, make offerings, give thanks, ask for healing and good fortunes. Very often, individuals spend the night inside the cave, hoping that their miracles and wishes would materialize. These images were taken between 2017-2020. They are part of a project on pilgrimages and popular religious devotion in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.