Person and God in a Spanish Valley by William A. Christian

Author:William A. Christian [Christian, William A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9780691214757
Google: J9PgDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-06-30T04:35:44+00:00

Fig. 9. Graph of visitors to shrines, by sex.

Fig. 10. Graph of visitors to shrines, by village.

TABLE 11

Destinations of the Pilgrimages of Women by Age at Trip

Vale and valley shrines

(5-20 km) Regional shrines

(50-133 km)

San Sebastian (N = 11)

Under 35 36+ 10

35 and over 20 11

Tudanca (N = 13)

Under 35 13 14

35 and over 1 18

Visits of men to shrines, as we have seen, take place primarily during the time of courtship: they are limited for this purpose to the closer shrines, those in and around the valley.

The wearing of a penitential habit is an alternative kind of promise. The habits listed in the following tabulation are most popular in the valley. These habits must be of pure wool and may be worn publicly or under other clothes. Some women wear the habits only on fiesta days; others have made promises to wear them all the time for a certain length of time. The wearing of a habit generally entails a series of supplementary obligations (no dancing, no participation in profane entertainment, etc.), all of which make it evident that the wearing of a habit signifies a protoreligious state, a mimicry of monasticism. It will be noted that the devotions to which the habits refer are generalized devotions, devotions to images to whom pilgrimages cannot be made. Hence the wearing of a habit seems to be the devotional equivalent of making a votive pilgrimage to a shrine. But the monastic aspect of the practice is instructive, because it shows just how deeply the monastic tradition of simplicity and sacrifice has colored all of these religious devotions. I do not know just how active the religious orders were in cultivating the wearing of habits. I find no reference to habits in devotional literature (aside from a mention of indulgences for wearing the cord of St. Francis around the waist) and only scant mention in the parish records (the traditional custom of wealthy persons being buried in the Franciscan habit, in Polaciones). So I have no idea how old the custom is. I am told by the clothing merchants that the custom is dying in all but the remote villages. At any one time in San Sebastian there might be four or five women wearing habits, although some of them wear them under their other clothes. In Tudanca it is also a custom, but one that is seen less frequently. I know little about the occasions for the promises which led to the wearing of these habits, for that too is private information which my friends did not volunteer.

Habit Color Popularity (roughly)

Degree With whom

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Brown Most popular Women

Our Lady of the Sorrows Black Most popular Women

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Purple Moderately Women

Sacred Heart of Jesus White popular Less frequent Women

The Immaculate Conception Blue Less frequent Children

St. Rita Black Less frequent Women

St. Anthony Grey Less frequent Men and

women

Jesus of Nazareth Purple Less frequent Men and

women

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