Author Topic: "Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession  (Read 11385 times)

Offline BLeafe

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"Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« on: January 01, 2009, 12:12:08 PM »
Happy New Year!

Well, here's a first.

About an hour ago, I heard something outside that sounded like a high school band, but I couldn't see anything and the sound just vanished after a minute or two.

15 minutes ago, I heard it again and much louder. It seemed to be coming from Anderson St. Suddenly, I saw some sort of procession with a police escort going east on Anderson between Union and Main. They turned left on Main and the music stopped. I don't know what happened after that.

Anybody have any idea what that was?



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« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 08:01:13 PM by BLeafe »


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: "Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2009, 02:13:59 PM »
Since there was a police escort, I called the HPD to find out what it was.

"A funeral" and they hung up.

Today on page L-3 of The Record, there's a photo titled, "Our Lady of the Cloud". Below the picture - which shows exactly what I saw - it says:

"Ecuadorians, in a New Year tradition, making a procession with a figure of the Virgin Mary on Maple Avenue in Hackensack leading to a festival at Holy Trinity Church."

Some funeral.



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« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 08:02:04 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: "Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2010, 02:27:53 PM »
This year, when I heard the sounds, I knew what it was and went out to get some cell video. I was pretty disappointed when I got home and found out that "Record Sound" had been turned off for some reason. It's a pretty empty video without the sounds of the singing and the musicians.

In the short vid, the procession had just made a left onto Main St from Anderson.



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« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 08:02:36 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: "Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« Reply #3 on: January 01, 2011, 05:00:41 PM »
You may remember me wondering what this was when it appeared on Anderson St two years ago. You may also recall me making a video of it last year and the sound was off.

O for 2.

This year, I got it right. I headed straight for Holy Trinity as soon as I heard the band coming down Anderson. I also found out what it's all about.

It's called "Our Lady of the Cloud". It's an Ecuadorian New Year's Day tradition with a procession in which a figure of the Virgin Mary is held high as the crowd marches to the church. They sing and have instrumentation, but it sounds rather solemn and almost dirge-like. The story behind it, however, is anything but funereal:

http://www.traditioninaction.org/Questions/F030_VirginCloud.html


In this picture, the procession has just come onto Maple Ave from Main St:









The Virgin Mary figure is carried on the shoulders of the young men:









The procession approaches Holy Trinity (which, BTW, will celebrate its 150th anniversary this year). The doors to the school gym were open and I could hear music inside, so I'm guessing that's where the festival took place after church.









Women in native costume precede the statue. If you look closely, you can see some smoke. One of the women carried some sort of burning incense:









The procession stopped and started every minute or so for the entire route. They walked during the short song (or prayer?) and stopped when the band played. Then it took a long time to get everyone into the church:









Finally, the Virgin is carried into the church:









The band continues playing until the last person gets inside:









Besides the cell shots, I also took some video. The first one is the repeated song with the band starting to kick in at the end. The second one is the repeated instrumental. I'll be hearing that in my head for quite some time.



<a href="http://img521.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=Mkg8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://img521.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=Mkg8</a>



<a href="http://img703.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=M85d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://img703.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=M85d</a>
« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 08:03:14 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: "Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2013, 08:00:25 PM »
I found out that the staging area for the procession is the Rite Aid parking lot on Anderson St, so I walked over there to get a photo of Our Lady of the Cloud before it was hoisted on men's shoulders.

Since I had photographed the procession at street level two years ago, I decided to get an overall view of it from my roof as it passed Union St on Anderson.

One problem: they changed the route and took a shortcut on Pangborn directly to Holy Trinity Church, so the second shot is all I got.

I guess if you piece the years together, you can get the complete picture.

« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 08:04:30 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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"Our Lady of the Cloud" annual Jan. 1st procession
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2016, 04:31:01 PM »
Every January 1, the Ecuadorean segment of the Holy Trinity Church has a few-blocks-long procession to the church that usually comes straight down Anderson St and cuts over to Maple Ave where the church is. It's dedicated to Our Lady of the Cloud - an Ecuadorean Catholic tradition. Here's the story about that: http://www.traditioninaction.org/Questions/F030_VirginCloud.html

I've shot it a couple of times in past years and it sounded kind of funereal, so I forgot about it...............until a heard a loud noise around noon today that was a couple of blocks from my apartment on Union St. I could see it 2 blocks away on Passaic St - a new route - and it was headed my way (I'm guessing they still assembled at the Rite-Aid parking lot and exited on the Passaic St end instead of onto Anderson St). It made a left onto Union St to go right past my building. It looked and sounded very different this year - much brighter with unusual dancing characters and little or no dirge-like music. I grabbed my camera and shot a few from my roof and then went downstairs to shoot some more.


Click to enlarge.



« Last Edit: January 01, 2016, 04:32:56 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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The Annual "Our Lady of the Cloud" procession 1-1-18
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2018, 04:11:35 PM »
(if you're looking for 2017, it's in the "Hackensack Videos" forum)



There was no way I was gonna be walking around the neighborhood for an hour or more in this super-cold, windy weather, so I decided to take what I could get from my roof.

1. I actually got a shot from home of marchers in the Rite Aid parking lot preparing to step off - at least 4 blocks away.

2. Marchers on Passic St approaching Park St.

3. As the procession was turning onto Union St from Passaic St, I was just a tiny bit astounded to see two guys in a convertible with the top down! I think the wind-chill temp was around 5 degrees. Meanwhile, 7 floors up, the wind was absolutely BRUTAL on the roof - MUCH worse than at ground level.

4, 5, 6. Some of the characters were new and others were variations of ones from previous years. They DO seem to change things up a bit every year. The song remained the same, but it was amplified much louder and clearer.

7. Essentially, the star of the show.

8, 9, 10. So now the convertible is directly below me and the banner on the hood appears to say "Radar 74 TV", which I've never heard of. The only thing I can find online is an app with a similar name. The "TV" part explains the two other guys running alongside the car with the vidcam and mic, but I'm slightly baffled by the stylish look of the one passenger-side rear window being up. That's PERFECT for the video guy to capture blinding sun reflections and gives the other guy more opportunities to bump his mic into something. If anyone knows if Radar 74 TV is an actual TV station, please post.

11. This is the sound truck at the tail end of the procession. Last year, five people - including a singing guitar player - and a lot of equipment were jammed into the back of the truck, This year, there's just one guy running what appears to be (and sounds like) new and much better gear................a good upgrade.


Click to enlarge.



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