SAN ANTONIO

This post began with a visit to a restaurant in Morelia to celebrate a friends 70th birthday. She wanted a “funky” restaurant and the San Miguelito of Morelia was recommended by locals.  We knew nothing about San Miguelito but having hired a driver and worked our way through two road blocks - one at the Governor’s house and the other just short of the restaurant - we entered a large establishment with 3-4 sitting areas and lots of interesting “stuff” on the walls.  The first room (The Altar of Conversations) was for families with appropriate decor,  the second for business lunches (La sala de conspiracion) and the third where we were seated was called Rincón de las Solteronas (the corner for single women).  This was an amazing room, every inch being covered with images and photos which we immediately realized were religious images, about 250 in total.   But, they were all standing on their heads (boca de abajo).   The image to the side of our table was a life-sized San Antonio, of course on his head.   We gathered from the signs that this room was where one might find a partner.  It didn’t look like  singles bar.  So, what was this all about  - a religious parody?   Was the owner anti-Christian?

No!   The answer is much more interesting.   San Antonio is the saint of singles and he can be approached in the search for a mate.  While not very common today young women (San Antonio is not sexist, but the culture is) can take a small image of San Antonio to church, light 13 candles and while holding the saint on his head, make a petition for a mate.   In the restaurant singles where to take 13 one peso coins and walk around the large image 13 times and on each rotation put a peso in the hand of the saint.  Then, one writes your petition in a book at the side table.  If your petition is answered you are entitled to return to the restaurant and turn one of the images right-side-up.   We could not find one standing upright!

IDOLATRY OR DEMOCRACY

Apologies to Max Harris for overusing his 2003 book titled Carnival.  Several of the essays contained there have given me guidance in understanding my experiences.   But, please read Harris for yourself.

Pilgrims returning multiple images of the black Jesus which have visited the original black Jesus in another town.  My understanding is these images will rotate among the homes of the more faithful of the pueblo.   The dancers on either side are Arqueros (a version of the Matachines).

Not being Catholic I have always been struck by the number of religious images in Mexico.  As a protestant I was raised with the beliefs that follow from this bible quotation: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.  (Ex. 20:4)   There is a great deal of debate even within Protestantism as to the meaning of this, but for Catholics God appears to be everywhere so can certainly be in a man-made object.  It is quite common to see a representation of a saint or of the Virgin being paraded through the streets and when you enter the homes of the working poor or the rural poor you might become aware of  the absence of what we might call “art”.  Instead the walls are often bare or if there is anything hanging there it might be a religious calendar, a mass produced image of a saint or the Virgin or something handed out at a religious festival.  I recently picked up a book-mark sized image of Pope John  Paul II when his relics passed through Patzcuaro.   I picked up a playing card sized image of Don Vasco on one of the few days his mausoleum was open.  I was given an image of Guadalupe when I passed through the church on her “day” to be blessed.   On Palm Sunday most people purchase a palm and these have usually been worked into a stylized image of Jesus or the Virgin.  On one saints day I noted that people were given long-stemmed gladiolas.   You also almost always find a small alter in the home, usually with a simple religious image, some flowers, a candle or two and perhaps an object or two.  You also may find alters in the doctor’s office (perhaps an image of “Dr. Jesus” with a stethoscope around his neck); you know you are in good hands. 

One of many stalls selling religious  images. 

The central image in Mexico is that of the Virgin (and Queen) Guadalupe and the most powerful image is that of the Virgin that appeared on the tunic of Juan Diego, the first person (a poor, indigenous, rural farmer) to be visited by Guadalupe. (It is important to keep in mind that in this founding story it was an indigenous person who first saw Guadalupe and he was instructed to speak to the local priest.) This image of Guadalupe is centrally controlled (the image never leaves the wall of the Basilica in Mexico City); not by the indigenous people’s themselves, but  by the religious hierarchy, few if any of whom are indigenous.   The skeptical might argue that the story of Juan Diego and the tunic with its image were creations of the Mexican Creole (those Mexicans born in Mexico of Spanish parents) who wanted to attract the indigenous population to Catholicism.  It was a device to attract the attention of the indigenous peoples.  However, the image never had much importance for the Indigenous peoples until Miguel Hidalgo (himself a Creole and annoyed about his group’s exclusion from political power) used the image in the first revolutionary steps towards independence from Spain.  Since then the image has appeared everywhere, mugs, tea towels, t-shirts, playing cards, greeting cards, and on and on.  And, the story and its image have become widely loved by indigenous peoples.  In this sense the image was taken from the central church and at least symbolically off the walls of the Basilica and placed in every aspect of peoples lives.   As I write this post we are approaching the fiesta for Guadalupe and almost daily an image (sometimes quite elaborate and others a simple painted depiction) goes through the streets with a few people following and bearing witness to their faith before returning to a local church.  Harris puts it this way:

Power thus spreads from the single sacred image, controlled by clergy, to the many images that live daily with the folk.  Power is refracted and diffused; sacred space is decentralized.  If the more powerful control the image at the center of the sacred space, the less powerful multiply the image, extending power to the margins.

 He argues that the multiple representations of religious figures is an indication of the ways in which spiritual power is (infinitely) divisible and often taken into the hands of local people themselves.  Spiritual power may be central and controlled centrally but it can soon move out into the community, to people’s homes and even to their clothing.  It can do this without taking the image itself.  As we have seen in other posts, I can touch the image and thus take some spiritual power home with me.  In one church where they distributed gladiolas to pilgrims they often tied a stick to the flower in order to lift the flower high enough to make contact with the painting of a sacred image.   To conclude, we can return to where this post began.  The homes of the rural power may have no art in some sense of the word but they do have multiple very ordinary images that presumably are thought to have some power (and perhaps even some beauty).

In a separate essay (also in Carnival, 2003) Harris suggests that much of Western theology (and other aspects of society) is built on a belief in scarcity - you have to choose A or B - there is never enough to go around.   But he suggests, folk theology prefers to believe that you can choose A and B, that is spiritual power can be divided and divided.  God is indeed generous.  It was in reading these few simple lines that I came to really understand the importance of the concept of “folk”.   Folk music, folk art, folk theology ad folk medicine have in common that they have their origins outside of the standards, belies, values and so on of the central authorities (priests, art historians, medical schools, etc.).  In the same fashion Guadalupe (or Mary) of the centralized church can become Maringullia of the folk dance, Malinche, or Tonantzin (the female godess of the Mexica of central Mexico).

Postscript:  Just as I finished this post I was in the Basilica when a Pilgrimage arrived with their image of Salud (the more important image of Mary in this pueblo).  Followed by the brass band which filled the sacred space, the local Virgin (a copy so to speak) came face to face with the real Virgin (the older image that is), but only for a moment.   The copy was quickly ushered into a back room and out of sight of the original.  While images can multiply and perhaps sacred power be distributed, it appeared that it wasn’t quite correct to have the two images in the same space.
Postscript 2:  I was recently in a restaurant in Morelia  (bearing a religious name) where there were 100 or more images of religious figures and they were all standing on their heads.  That is they were all turned upside down.  Was this just marketing or was their a political message?

FRAGMENTS: COCUCHO, BODAS,

This and other post with this title are an attempt to simply capture a moment which will perhaps fall into a larger picture in the future, or perhaps not.

#1 During a fiesta for the Virgin of Immaculate Conception in Cocucho two things struck me. First, while watching a group of viejito dancers in a vigorous performance I noticed a teenage girl holding what looked like a Barbie doll. I concluded it was really an image of the Virgin and began to pay more attention to the crowds on the street. Indeed, many people had these small Virgins and young girls often compared their images, perhaps commenting on the way they were dressed. On occasion a man was seen carrying a larger image. There were countless images on the streets. Later on entering the church we found the pews all pushed to the sides. A moment later we heard the band approaching and the viejito dancers entered following an image of the Virgin and an incense burner. After vigorous dancing they left the church and it became apparent that many people were gathered at the front of the church where they appeared to be praying or touching a large image of the Virgin. Those that did received a gladiola flower. Some recipients then took part of the flower and ran it over the image, others tied their flowers to a stick and lifted it high to pass it over the glass protecting a painting of the Virgin, some ran their own image of the Virgin over the larger image and others just touched the images. A stranger approached us to tell her story. She had been badly injured in an accident and it was thought she wold not walk again. She prayed to this particular image (she said you have to also have faith) and indeed here she was walking into the church. She no longer lives locally but makes an effort to return to the church to pray and say thank you.

#2 A second fragment is perhaps related. We entered a village to find a main street blocked and tables being set up. We learned a wedding celebration was in the making and in talking to a friend who lived next door we were told something of the local traditions. One part of this tradition that struck me was the practice of “bendición” (the blessing). This portion happened the day before the wedding when the bride and groom could be found at home kneeling on a straw mat.
Their parents and godparents (and presumably others) enter the home and there make the sign of the cross on the forehead of the new couple. What was this about? Was it just the community acknowledging the new family being formed? In a very real sense giving their blessing to the union. Was it the community making it clear to the couple that what they were doing was before the eyes of God? Was it just a blessing (our way of saying good luck)? An unrelated part of the tradition was that on the morning after the fiesta which was about to begin the new couple was obliged to rise very early and make fresh atole (a local corn based hot drink ) and deliver it to their parents and godparents since it was assumed they may have had too much to drink and needed this assistance in starting their day.

#3 And a third fragment, also a wedding ritual. After the wedding the young couple are required to stand on chairs while their friends gently attempt to knock them off the chair. The two have to try and save the other from falling since it is believed that if they fall the marriage will not last. Perhaps a good metaphor for an enduring union.