Swine Flu, invoking the same religious rituals that Smallpox did centuries ago

http://eyugoslavia.com/featured/28/mexico-city-revives-small-pox-rituals-for-modern-flu-227017/
First, a tangent thought. This article shows how concern or at least interest in Swine Flu and Mexico City is global, reaching Yugoslavia across the world.

This article makes a directly compares swine flu to smallpox, reporting how both epidemics inspired similar reactions from the Roman Catholic community in Mexico City, a place that is no stranger to pestilence, having already suffered its wrath in the years of 1554, 1695, 1736, and 1850.

Looking at the all the face masks, anti-viral drugs, and other modern medical instruments currently in Mexico City, one can tell that times have changed and with science and technology giving humans an advantage in the fight against disease. Increase efficiency of communication technology and authority organizations also add to human society's increase adeptness in crisis response. Amidst all the innovations, the religious community distinguishes itself by performing the same protection ritual that it has used for the past centuries against disease outbreaks. To protect the masses from the pestilence, religious authorities brought out the giant Our Father Jesus of Health status for the first time in 150 year and the novena --series of prayers lasting 9 day-- was organized. However, basic procedures did have to be altered in light of modern scientific discoveries. For example, large-scale gatherings were forbidden as its known that large number of people in confined spaces provides the perfect environment for disease to spread. As a religious officials states, "Viruses pass from person to person even in God’s house."


-Teresa