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Mexican Religious Artwork
and Collectors Items
from Fausto's Art Gallery
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Virgin of Guadalupe Nicho
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most famous saint in Mexico - the patron saint of Mexico, in fact. Known as the “Virgen Morena” - the brown skin virgin- Guadalupe was supposedly first encountered on the Hill of Tepeyac in what is now Mexico City only a few short years after the Spanish Conquest, by an Aztec Indian, Juan Diego, who was told to go and tell the bishop to build a temple on the spot where he first saw her. It happens that this spot is the same location where the temple of Tonantzin (“Our Lady” in the Aztec dialect, Nahuatl) was located. Tonantzin, on the other hand, was the recreation of an earlier Mother Goddess of the Indians who had been in the Valley of Mexico long before the arrival of the Aztecs.
This shrine is very large - about 24 inches high, and the statue inside it is about 13 inches tall.
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Mexican Folk Art Altar
Virgin of Guadalupe
Saint Michael
and Saint Francis
This is known either as a tablero or as a retablo (which word also refers to a hand painted picture of a saint). An item like this would have been placed in a private chapel for the use of a family in private worship. All of the figures and hand carved and hand painted. In the center is the Virgin of Guadalupe, and on either side are San Franciso (St. Francis) and San Miguel (St. Michael).
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San Antonio - Saint Anthony
I bought this statue from a man who used to live in Mexico City and make these there, but he moved to Chihuahua City and is now in the same business. Note the eyelashes, which are real hair. These are exquisitely fashioned and hand painted with great care, by a true artisan.
The common folk practices that are associated with San Antonio are the following:
Far and away the most important is that he is called on by women to bring them a man, or to bring their man back. There are several spells, rituals, and prayers associated with that. The next most common is to find lost objects. Again, there are prayers and spells involved in this. Aside from his helping women find husbands, he also is called on by women who are unable to have children.
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San Martin Caballero
San Martin Caballero (Saint Martin of Tours) is a very special saint in Mexico, because his image is kept in most businesses to bring good luck and increase sales. In particular, this custom comes from his use in cantinas, where a small altar is placed, usually in a hidden spot, like behind the bar, in order to charm customers into ordering more drinks. I small bundle of grass in placed next to a glass of water, and it is believed that “if the horse eats the grass, the rider will become thirsty”, and thus the clients in the cantina will order more rounds of beer! Since women work in a lot of these cantinas - women who dance for a small fee - and sometimes do more than that for a slightly larger fee - San Martin is sometimes referred to, in this sense, as the “saint of the prostitutes”! Generally speaking, however, most people refer not to mention that aspect.
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Santa Elena de la Cruz Nicho
Most spells that are used in Mexican magic are love spells, and one of the most famous is that of Santa Elena de la Cruz, which a lot of people have memorized, albeit in slightly different versions. This version I learned from a Mexican Curandera, Maria del Refugio, known popularly here as doña Cuquita (coo-KEE-tah). This is something that is part of the folk religion of Mexico, known as curanderismo.
The concept of this magic is that one symbolically takes one of the three nails from the Cross, the one that Santa Elena did not use for another purpose, and one nails it through the heart of her lover to make him loyal, or to make him come back when he has gone astray. There is a milagro - a Mexican religious charm, that shows a heart with a daggar in it, and this is associated with this same concept. Its roots go back to the Roman god Cupid, who shoots an arrow through a person's heart to make him fall in love.
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