Siparia is a town in southern Trinidad, in Trinidad and Tobago, south of San Fernando, southwest of Penal and Debe and southeast of Fyzabad.
History
Also called "The Sand City", Siparia was originally a non-Mission
Amerindian settlement. Siparia grew to be the administrative centre for Saint Patrick County, and later the capital of the eponymous region that in 2023 was appointed a borough.
La Divina Pastora (Siparia Mai)
Siparia is home to the annual festival of La Divina Pastora (Mary, as
Theotokos of the
Good Shepherd), named for a
Black Virgin enshrined as the church's
patron saint. It is held on the feast day of La Divina Pastora some few weeks after
Easter.
Hinduism also hold the separate Siparia Fete on
Maundy Thursday and
Good Friday. The image is considered a manifestation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by
Catholic Church, while Hindus call her
Siparee Mai ("Mother of Siparia"), variously identified as the form of a particular
Devi such as
Kali,
Durga or
Lakshmi, or seen as one in her own right. Aside from these religious groups most commonly associated with her
cultus, she is revered as a
folk saint by self-identified Jehovah's Witnesses,
Anglicanism, Spiritual Baptists,
,
Trinidad Orisha, Baháʼís, and the indigenous
Warao people. Early Chinese settlers who practised
Buddhism and Chinese folk religion understood her to be an
Emanationism of the
bodhisattva,
Guanyin.
There have even been some Muslims who regard the site as holy and say prayers
Qibla Mecca, but do not revere the statue as it is
Haram.
The precise origins of the statue is unknown, but it is known to have been in the Siparia area since at least the 18th century.
Notable people from Siparia
