Esquipulas is famous for its Tierra Santa (Holy Earth) clay tablets that are purchased by the pilgrims during Church festivals. The clay from the local deposits is cleaned and pressed into small cakes. Such clay is also known as tierra bendita, or Tierra del Santo. The popularity of this clay is attested by the many names (for example, akipula, cipula, askipula, kipula) that are used for such medicinal clay tablets all around Central America. Pilgrims sometimes eat the supposedly curative clay, or they rub themselves with it.
Similar customs prevail at the sister shrine El Santuario de Chimayo in the US.
In 1987 the Trifinio biosphere reserve was created to protect the unique flora and fauna in the region.
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Famous quotes containing the word santa:
“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.”
—Shirley Temple Black (b. 1928)