Tuesday May 01, 2002 - Some believers and modern-day pilgrims see the Virgin Mary and child in this pattern that appeared on a freshly painted wall in Indian Brook, N.S. Shubenacadie, N.S. — No one is sure whether the image on the newly painted wall of a small bungalow in Indian Brook, N.S., is the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus. But hundreds of Mi'kmaq people are flocking to the reserve outside Truro to try to interpret the image and to feel the peaceful sensation they say it provides them.

Many of the pilgrims, who come from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, look reverently and pray as they touch the image. They believe Mary is sending a message to the faithful. No one, not even Tina Sack, who first spotted the eight-centimetre image after her husband painted the bedroom wall last week, can say what that message might be.

But the spiritual discussions of the soothing image are a welcome relief from talk of continuing fishing conflicts and suicide attempts that tend to dominate conversations on East Coast reserves."It's bringing a lot of people together. It's done a lot of good already," Ms. Sack said. She first noticed the shape last Wednesday — two days after her husband finished painting the wall a deep blue.

"I thought it might be a message for me about having faith and being strong," Ms. Sack said in an interview outside her house, which was filled with latter-day pilgrims Monday."I brought my mother and my aunt and my sister and they looked at it. Word got out and the next morning the community started coming," she said.

Since Thursday morning, more than 700 people have crowded into the home, many of them kneeling to pray, recite the rosary and leave behind flowers, candles and religious literature."I don't know what the message is. It's unexplainable and everyone who looks at it has their own opinion on it," said Ms. Sack, who attends the Roman Catholic Church on the reserve occasionally.

"Maybe it's a blessing from God. Our Lady [Mary] has a special love for native people," Mr. Prosper said in an interview in the crowded living room outside the temporary shrine. "I feel full of peace there even with the crowd that is here." Al Knockwood, of the Indian Brook reserve, said he felt a tingling after he looked at the image.

"I don't know what the message is. But with her coming back, it must be something important," Mr. Knockwood said. "I looked at it and I went back and looked again and it is there — you can see the crown, you can see her holding the child."

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