Urkupiña, the migrant Virgin. Festivity, work, and reciprocity in bolivian Greater Córdoba

Abstract

For approximately four decades, in a village near Cochabamba, Bolivia, people have celebrated the “Festivity of the Virgin of Urkupiña” on August 15 (in the Catholic calendar the day of the Assumption) This religious ritual brings together thousands of people who come to Urkupiña from most of the departments of the country to ask the Virgin for money loans; these loans are returned to the Virgin with interest during three consecutive years. In 1982 a group of Bolivian nationals, who were living in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Córdoba, started celebrating the Festivity of the Virgin of Urkupiña. Since then, the celebration has taken place on August 15 or around that date, with greater attendance and participation by devotees; this event also takes place in other neighborhoods of Córdoba.

These inhabitants of Córdoba are perceived by their Argentine neighbors as “Bolivian migrants”. Nonetheless, from the perspective of these inhabitants, migration is defined as “coming and going to work”. This paper shows the recreation that these inhabitants have made, in this social space, of their condition as Bolivian "migrants" to the city of Córdoba and how this same condition has modified the meaning of the festivity. In the process of transnationalization, the Virgin has kept her “lender” and “capitalist” character but has incorporated a new “good” into the list of exchanges: “work”.