I’ll Meet You At Mariamabad
By Seamus O’Leary
Mariamabad is the place to go if you want to meet Catholics in Pakistan. Seamus O’Leary, a Columban lay missionary, took part in the annual pilgrimage to its famous Shrine of Our Lady last year. It was an interesting mix of faith, devotion, fun and business.
The annual pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine in Mariamabad in Pakistan took place last year from 10thto the 12th of September. It is about 100 kms from the city of Labore. Several people from there walk or cycle to the shrine for this occasion. Many others do so from even further afield. It takes five days of strong cycling, in scorching late-summer heat, to make it from Karachi. Anyway I opted for the cycle from Shadbagh with a group of young men I had gotten to know over the previous months.
Cycling Pilgrims
It certainly was a memorable cross-cultural experience. Fortunately, from the point of view of heat exposure, we cycled during the cool of the night. Unfortunately that meant that vision was negligible. What bicycle lamp? Along the way we mingled with dozens of other groups of cycling pilgrims. In fact at one stage the mingling was a little too tight and a sudden change in road surface sent skin and metal flying in all directions. At a later stage someone else went slap bang into the back of a parked but unlit lorry. However most of us arrived safely few hours after sunrise as, several miles back, pilgrims on foot arose to face the final leg of their journey.
Bold expression of faith
The event in Mariamabad itself was as much a festival of everything imaginable as it was a gathering in honour of Our Lady. Among the thousands who flocked there during the three days did seem to be a real desire of many to assert their identity as Christians. As we cycled through towns such as Sheikhapura the previous night I sensed a curious uncertainty among some local Muslims as they watched droves of pilgrims openly proclaiming the fact that they were Christians in this Muslim society. But having said that, the atmosphere of the festival itself seemed to be, more than anything else, a celebration of the Punjabi culture. Combined with this was the invention of an infinite variety of ways of furnishing someone else with the few rupees one might have. It would be hard to capture the atmosphere of the festival in words.
Peace in Noise
A dominant feature was noise. It was everywhere and greatly increased by countless drummers who were willing, for a few rupees, to beat out the loudest and fastest local rhythm. This was for the benefit of any two of the lads who might feel like competing in a dance to impress the countless onlookers. When I was pushed into the middle at one stage the number of onlookers multiplied considerably. It took me most of the first day there to get used to being stared at as a whiter than white object of curiosity. The young people with me tried to explain that people were just happy to see a foreigner sharing in their culture and festivities. A pinch of salt might be required with that explanation. But I’m sure no one was more happy to see me than whoever it was who relieved me of my sunglasses and romal (head scarf) later that night as some of us tried to catch some sleep amid the ceaseless noise and festivities of the rest. One thing that amazes me about local people here is their ability to switch off from the surrounding noise. Whether this is due to the simple necessity of being able to filter the impact of the world around them or to some other kind of depth and self-presence, I’m not yet sure.
My memories of the festival are of an occasion that was boisterous and lively. Alongside the religious activities there was the variety of sideshows. There were dancing and weight lifting competitions, a mobile zoo and amusements such as the Big Wheel. There were the stalls of traders, stalls selling religious items and stalls selling food. There were the hours of queuing to visit the shrine to offer gifts or flowers to decorate the statue of Our Lady. There were the huge pots of rice which could be bought in honour of Our Lady and then offered to anyone and everyone or to the fastest and the fittest to be more precise! Their place was full with whole families getting on with daily living and with youth seeking every possible attraction. There was hospitality to the point of embarrassment, fervent prayer, a flow of people coming and going by every means, a constant rhythm of life. Beneath it all lay the desire to celebrate and a longing to be recognized.