Hundreds of Nicaraguans sang in praise of the Virgin Mary at flower-and-light-filled altars set up in church parking lots as well as in the back of vehicles on the streets of Miami to mark the Dec. 8 feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The exuberant celebration called “gritería” is especially poignant this year during the ongoing crackdowns on religion in Nicaragua as well as on immigrant communities in the United States.

“To celebrate this solemnity is not only to have a little piece of home, but more than that, it is to have hope that our mother accompanies us even in a different country,” said Father Elvis Gonzalez, the pastor of the St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.

A mid-19th century Vatican proclamation of the dogma that Mary was conceived free from original sin, which the Catholic faith teaches all humans carry, gave new popularity to the feast day worldwide. In Nicaragua, there's a special tradition for families to create home altars and then go visit others, singing, from house to house.

But those celebrations have been either stifled or co-opted by the Nicaraguan government in an intensifying persecution of religion that human rights advocates, exiled priests and the U.S. government say is one of the most severe in the world.

Hundreds of Christian clergy and lay people have been imprisoned and exiled, many religious festivities have been barred, and many of the remaining faithful say they’re under strict surveillance.

In the United States, the Trump administration has sought to end expanded and temporary legal protections for around 430,000 migrants from Nicaragua, as well as from Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti. It’s part of an ongoing crackdown on migrants across the country that has spread fear in many communities.

"It is really bad right now for migrants. So coming over here and seeing the altar, maybe they ask for a favor to the virgin and by faith that favor is granted to them,” said Bianca Llanos, a parishioner at St. Michael’s.

Hundreds of people packed the church for the celebration Monday for Mass, followed by a celebration with traditional Nicaraguan dances and songs.

Visitors erupted in the traditional “grito” or cry that many also had emblazoned on T-shirts — with Spanish for “Who causes so much joy? Mary’s conception!”

Then they sang traditional hymns to the Virgin as the families and other groups that created the altars donated toys, traditional food like yucca and chicharrones, and small religious souvenirs like rosaries — a big show of community support since most had planned to serve at least 500 people.