FOR OUR ANIMAL FRIENDS AN OLVERA STREET TRADITION BRINGS BLESSINGS TO ALL CREATURES.Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer Myra buckled her front knees to the floor, bowing as Cardinal Roger Mahony His Eminence Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony (born February 27, 1936) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1991. sprinkled holy water on the nearly 6-foot-tall llama llama (lä`mə), South American domesticated ruminant mammal, Lama glama, of the camel family. Genetic studies indicate that it is descended from the guanaco. during the annual Blessing of the Animals at Olvera Street Olvera Street is in the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles, California, and is otherwise known as the birthplace of the City of Angels or El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument and is a department within the city. Saturday. The black, lanky llama stood by curiously after, watching as hundreds of animal owners presented their festively dressed pooches, parakeets parakeets one of the bird groups known as typical parrots in the family Psittacidae. Small parrots with long tails and include the budgerigar. , horses, bulls and iguanas. They were all sprinkled with holy water in what's become a 73 year-old Easter tradition in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . For more than an hour, pet owners held their sometimes squirming pets, from hamsters to snakes, in a processional line that stretched for more than a block as they awaited the cardinals' blessing. Every year, Penny Mctaggart, who helped raise Myra, brought her and six other llamas from a ranch in Little Rock, Calif., to seek the blessing. ``God has often used the service of animals or made them the symbolic gift of salvation,'' said Mahony in opening the ceremony from a stage adorned with yellow and orange lilies. Pet lovers came from as far as Oxnard and Riverside, and even the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . brought out two horses from its mounted unit. Dressed in purple leggings leg·ging n. 1. A leg covering usually extending from the ankle to the knee and often made of material such as leather or canvas, worn especially by soldiers and workers. 2. leggings a. , platforms and a olive shirt, Dyan Hill of Glendale color-coordinated with Psyche, her 11-year-old Shih Tzu-Chihuahua mix, whom she brings every year. ``Usually, I have a mother-daughter outfit for her,'' Hill explained as the bonnet-wearing Psyche with purple sunglasses eyed two gray Irish wolfhounds. All the while, a small crowd of observers snapped shots of Hill and the white, doll-sized dog she clutched. ``I want her to get all the love,'' said Hill. Practiced in Mexico, England and Austria, among other countries, the tradition of blessing animals is said to date back to San Antonio de Abad, the patron saint of the animal kingdom. Olvera Street merchants began practicing the celebration in 1930 as a way to lure tourists. Since then, the ceremony has blossomed. ``This year, there are more animals than any other year,'' said Albert Gribbell, who has served as a master of ceremonies of sorts for the past 28 years. This year, he said, seemed different in other ways. ``We are all giving thanks to our troops who are away from home.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) A llama is led before Cardinal Roger Mahony Saturday afternoon for the annual Blessing of the Animals on Olvera Street. (2) Peter Aguillard of Los Angeles brings his iguana iguana (ĭgwä`nə), name for several large lizards of the family Iguanidae, found in tropical America and the Galapagos. The common iguana (Iguana iguana , Ganga Man, to be blessed by Cardinal Roger Mahony. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer |
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