Beer, Priest, and Witch Doctor: An Effective Way to Bless your Car

Copacabana, a small town on the Bolivian shore of Lake Titcaca has many special traditions. One of those traditions is a sacred ceremony known as the Bendición de Movilidades (Blessing of the Automobiles). This ceremony is administered by both a Catholic priest and an Aymara yatiri (witch doctor) all week with a small fee of $29 USD. The interesting part of this car blessing ritual is that both holy practitioners execute this ceremony differently. The Catholic priest fills holy water from a bucket onto the open engines of the cars whereas the yatiri uses incense, coco lead, and pray to ask…