Another day of not making ceramics.. hmmm kinda a weird week, but trying to learn to pace myself, so I guess I will just call it "practice". Anyway I'm a bit wore out from yesterday and schelping 4 large tables, 8 bins of pottery, four 35 pound weights, half dozen very large tiles, two display units, a cash counter, directors chair, step-ladder, lunch, cash box, big bag of table shirts and 3 walls for ez-up tent... did I forget anything?! oh yeah, two thermoses..... out of the truck and into the railyard, back into the truck and home again to unload into the storage trailer, no wonder I have back problems.....! this sounds like I am complaining but not really, I love what I do! Just a little hard on my late-middle-age bod....
After breakfast at Cafe Fina, where I saw half my friends ( Eldo is so small!), I received a phone call from a local woman beseeching me to help her. It seems that a friend has pancreatic cancer and is not responding to treatment as well as she and her family had hoped. This being New Mexico ( bumper sticker spied today; "New Mexico; it's not new and it ain't Mexico!"), she asked me if I would be willing to make a pancreatic milagro. I paused for a second trying to remember what that was but after recalling my friend Kathleen's charming milagros, I responded by saying I would be happy to. This is a first for me, never in my studio career have I been asked to assist in a traditional healing by the making of a religious charm.
First things first; straight to Google Images to see what a pancreas looks like and then to Wikipedia to find out the origins of milagros. Dear Readers, warning!, the pancreas is not the cute part of our bodies and looks remarkably like another more erect part of the anatomy, if you get my drift. I decided to use an image with context ( showing the liver and stomach as well) not wanting to confuse any deities that might be invoked...
Milagros, in New Mexico anyway, are basically a small piece of tin embossed with the image of whatever body part the petitioner is having problems with...
In the case above, the heart, it could symbolize either a romantic problem or blocked coronaries...
Either way, the milagro, also known as an "ex-voto", is a religious folk charm traditionally used for healing purposes or as a votive offering. It is used to assist in focusing attention towards a specific ailment or body part. It is often attached to altars, shrines, or other sacred objects. The use of the milagro is traceable to the ancient Iberians who inhabited coastal Spain and is thought to have traveled to the New World along with the Spanish conquistadores.
How interesting! One of the things I love about living in New Mexico is the tri-cultural nature of our state. We may not always get along, but the Gingos, Native Americans, and Spaniards who make this desert their home are certainly each rich in cultural heritage and I am honored to be a part of it.
May the humble clay charm I fashion here at Magpie Pottery be successful in petitioning whatever Gods may be listening....
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