Creating Harmony

Being able to search the world over at my fingertips is a wonder. I was trying to get an idea on what a 16th C church might look like and found the Apostle Santiago Church, in Nurio, Michoacán Sierra. It was thought to originally be part of a hospital complex much like chapels in hospitals today. The interior was painted in the a pre-Hispanic maque method that incorporated natural oils and minerals over wood. I could just imagine the creaking and cracking of walking to a pew and sitting down, taking in the smells and visual feast. The church still has an active parish but very little remains of the church structure after the devastating fire in March 2021, a tremendous loss on many levels. It has sparked a debate on how to protect cultural heritage when it depends so heavily upon outside funding? Read more here:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historic-sixteenth-century-church-mexico-burns-down-sparks-debate-about-cultural-heritage-180977266/

In Mexico, the blue purple morning glory is known as Virgin’s Mantle, honoring Jesus’ mother Mary. In indigenous cultures it was also prized for its medicinal properties as well as the psychoactive properties used during religious ceremonies.

The temple in the background was from a 16th C Aztec map that also showed missions and churches.

The statue under the Morning Glories is Our Lady of Guadalupe, associated with a series of five Marian apparitions in December 1531 to Juan Diego, also an Aztec convert to Christianity. She is the patron saint of Mexico. Read more here:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Our-Lady-of-Guadalupe-patron-saint-of-Mexico

I find the overlapping narratives fascinating and reminds me why I like collage so much! Creating harmony between seemingly disparate pieces, pulled together to tell a story seems a lot like life.

Interior images from:

http://colonialmexico.blogspot.com/2014/08/missions-of-michoacan-nurio-church.html

https://www.wmf.org/project/apostle-santiago-church-nurio

#thelegendofthepoinsetia #apostlesantiagochurchnurio

#legendofthepoinsettia #poinsettias #poinsettiasforchristmas #christmaslegends #multiculturalchristmas #multiculturalchristmasbooks #nahuatl #christmasinmexico #jesusbirthday #aztecchristmas #weallcomefromsomewhere