FIGHTING STRESS WITH ‘DAY OF LAZINESS’
Residents of Colombian city haul mattresses into streets
ITAGUI
COLOMBIANS here hauled mattresses and hammocks into the streets yesterday to mark the annual “World Laziness Day,” a quirky effort to urge overstressed workers to slow down.
The daylong celebration of relaxation has been held annually since 1985 in this small city of some 200,000 in northwestern Colombia.
The city is known, rather paradoxically, for its bustling commerce and its thriving industrial park.
But 32 years ago, one resident, Carlos Mario Montoya, had the idea that the city should celebrate not just the hustle-bustle of business, but also slowing down and enjoying life.
“We wanted to draw attention to the importance in any community of free time and leisure activities,” said Montoya, 65, who also helped put together this year’s event.
Organisers said festivities included a competition for the best-looking pajamas, a pillowjuggling contest, and a race for the fastest bed on wheels.
Those taking part in the annual fete say laziness gets a bad rap. Far worse, they say, is the wear and tear of workaday life, and all the physical and emotional ailments that often go along with it.
“The biggest illness we have today is stress, the hustle-bustle of everyday life,” said Jhon Jairo Alonso, reclining in his pajamas in the midday sunshine.
Flanked on a wide mattress by his wife, his mother, and a family friend, they made a cozy group, even if surrounded by curious onlookers.
“Please don’t disturb us,” Alonso joked. “We’re going to be spending the whole day in bed.”
In Bogota, a shopping centre became an unlikely confessional yesterday, as part of an event by Colombia’s Catholic church ahead of next month’s visit by Pope Francis.
Seated on plastic chairs, 20 priests heard the sins of those seeking forgiveness at the socalled “Confessathon”, as a nearby carousel began to turn.
“As a Mexican priest, it’s striking to me that an event this important can happen in a shopping mall,” 45-year-old participant Efren Velasquez said.
The event fell weeks before the papal visit to Colombia from Sept 6 to 10.
Francis backed the agreement that sealed peace with FARC, once the country’s largest guerilla group, after half a century of armed conflict.
Mirian Aguilera came to confess for the first time in several years. The unemployed 55-yearold said that perhaps mass should be held in malls, parks or other public space.
“God is everywhere, not just in the churches,” she said. AFP