Tag: virgin mary

Postcard from Oviedo, Spain: Things that matter along the streets

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Above: Souvenir display in a shop window

Mass-manufactured souvenirs might be tacky, but they often serve as indicators of what distinctive symbols a community values. Assigned positions of prominence here are replicas of the pair of treasured bejeweled crosses from the Cathedral, the ancient ones recovered and repaired following a brazen 1977 theft. And the beloved Virgen de la Esperanza (Hope) from Capilla de la Balesquida across the plaza.

And then there is apple cider. Almost a religion as well. The ritualistic way to pour cider is to hold the glass at waist level and pour from above one’s head, essentially aeration. Obviously, a talent best left to the experienced waiters circling within the sidrerias, which are far from difficult to locate. You are supposed to down this serving immediately before it goes flat and then wait patiently for a server to stop to pour another glug from your bottle. The cider has about the same alcohol content as standard American beer.

And there, completing this cherished trinity, perched front and center in the window, is Mafalda. Argentinian Quino created the wise-cracking six-year-old girl, usually with a smile on her face, to voice satirical criticism of her enemies: Fascists, militarists and, for some strange reason, soup.

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Postcard from Oviedo, Spain: Sacred relics attract peregrinos and thieves

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Above: Central detail of the main Gothic altarpiece, dating from the early 1500s, in Santa Iglesia Catedral Basilica Metropolitana de Oviedo

He who goes to Santiago and not to the Savior visits the servant and forgets the Lord.”

Back in the year 40, the apostle James was preaching in Zaragoza when the Virgin Mary miraculously floated down on a cloud to assist him with his efforts to convert pagans living under Roman rule to Christianity. Soon after establishing a chapel in her honor, James traveled all the way back to Jerusalem. His preaching incurred the ire of the King of Judea, Herod Agrippa (11 BC-44 AD), who had him beheaded in the year 44. Avenged as, according to Acts Chapter 12, Verse 23, King Herod Agrippa met his maker within the same year:

“…an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”

The head of Santiago, as James is known in Spain, is said to be entombed below the altar of the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Saint James, the church built on the site where he was martyred in Jerusalem. But what became of the rest of his body? As Santiago is the country’s patron saint, let’s go with the miraculous version. A band of angels arrived on a cloud to retrieve it, placed it in a simple boat and guided it to shore in northern Spain.

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Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Foreign beliefs transform both faith and art

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“My spirit that is upon you,” Isaiah 59 verse 21, translation of one of the Latin phrases floating around the canvas of “El Obispo Juan de Palafox y Mendoza” by Miguel Cabrera

As in Europe, art served as a primary tool for friars to introduce the mysteries of Catholicism to those of other beliefs. Consequently, religious paintings from that period form the core of the collection of Museo de Arte Colonial. The works are displayed in a house of the Colonial period which was renovated in 1984.

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