Video of Holy Wednesday in Nandaime, Nicaragua

Holy Wednesday, Nandaime Nicaragua

                                   

Holy Wednesday, Nandaime, Nicaragua

On Wednesday of Holy Week in Nandaime, a small town outside of Granada Nicaragua, an ancient Lenten penitential ritual is, more or less, stood on its head and turned into a half-hour of fun, controlled chaos.  It begins and ends with the sounding of church bells and despite appearances, is a religious event. Experience this lively and fascinating celebration in my video:  https://youtu.be/w2K-8g2M54A


                             

Ruta Dominica (Dominican Route) of Oaxaca: San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula

San Pedro y San Pablo, Teposcolula Oaxaca

This is the third post in a series about the grand 16 th century Dominican Monasteries of Oaxaca's Mixteca Alta, the mountainous area lying to the northwest of Oaxaca City.  The other two that have been covered are San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca (June 8, 2016) and San Juan Yanhuitlan (May 20, 2013).  The car ride to the area is fairly long (11/2 to 2 hours), but the mountainous scenery along the route is striking and the trip can be done in one day.  

The Dominicans arrived in Teposculala from Yanhuitlan in 1538 introducing industries which led to a rapid development of the area, although after 1576 there was a decline in the area due to, among other things, an large epidemic among the indigenous inhabitants.

Monastery Plan:

Atrium:

All monasteries in the New world followed the same basic plan.  Each was located on a large plot of land surrounded by a wall, the atrium, which typically had a cross in the middle of it. Until a monastery's buildings were built, religious services were held in open air in the atrium; the indigenous peoples were accustomed to outdoor worship.

                                        

Teposcolula: Atrial Cross

Teposcolula, Wall enclosing Atrium

                                                 

Open Chapel:

In all new world monasteries, the first structure to go up was the open chapel, built to  evangelize the indigenous peoples who did not have a concept of indoor worship. Scholars believe that open chapels were intentionally built to evoke the prehispanic teocalli, the ancient temples built on top of pyramids, found in prehispanic Mesoamerican cultures. 

 The Teposcolula open chapel, dedicated to John the Baptist, is considered one of the masterpieces of Colonial Spanish architecture.  Likely, modeled on the one in the monastery in Coixtliahuaca,  it was built on a grand scale with a second story and all of it, including its Gothic star vault, has been restored.

Teposcolula, Open Chapel

                                 

Teposcolula, Open Chapel

                                       

Teposcolula, Open Chapel Dome

                                     

Teposcolula, Open Chapel Dome

                                       
                                        

Teposcolula, Open Chapel altar

                                   

Teposcolula, Open Chapel, showing upper story

              The Church:

Teposcolula, Church Façade

The church was largely rebuilt in the 18th century due to earthquake damage. Although Teposcolula was a Dominican monastery, The façade has representations of both Franciscan and Dominican personages.

Teposcolula Church Façade, Dominican Saint

                                           

Teposcolula Church Façade, St. Clare (Franciscan Nun)

The original altar, dating grin 1581 disappeared and was replaced with a neoclassical altarpiece.

Teposcolula, Church Interior

                                               
                                                                                            

Teposcolula, Front Altarpiece

                                               
The church has numerous other side altars in styles ranging from neoclassical to baroque.

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                               

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                               

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                                   

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                               

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                               

Teposcolula, Side Altar

                                   
The church's organ is located high on a side wall of the church toward the rear, an unusual placement for a church organ.  Conceivably, it could be related to the lofts in the open chapel.

Teposcolula, Church Organ

Teposcolula, Church Interior showing placement of Organ

                                               

As in most churches in Oaxaca, there is a characteristic statue of Jesus riding on a donkey, an image derived from Palm Sunday.  
                                   

Teposcolula, Church-Image of Jesus on Donkey

                                               


In contrast to the ornamental ceiling in the Coixtlahuaca monastery with its ribbed and painted ceiling, Teposcolula's vaulted ceiling is quite plain, as seen below

Teposcolula, Church Ceiling

                                               

 Representations of the four Evangelists next to the altar dome are a notable for their style. The indigenous hand in their painting is clear and forms a contrast to the European sophistication of the rest of the architecture and decoration.

Teposcolula, Altar Dome

                                             

Teposcolula, Image of San Juan (St. John)

                                             

Teposcolula, Image of San Marcos (St. Mark)

                                         
       

The Convento:

The monks' living quarters, the convento, is located adjacent to the church to its right in the photo above, where part of it's entrance can be seen.

Teposcolula church

Teposcolula, Convento Entrance

Teposcolula, Church seen from Convento Courtyard

Teposcolula, Convento Courtyard

Teposcolula, Exterior Passageway and Convento Courtyard

There has been considerable restoration of the convento's interior.  Originally, the interior was ornamentally painted and some of this has been put back into its original condition, which was not the case in Coixtlihuaca.  
                                         

Teposcolula, Convento Staircase

                                  

                             

Teposcolula, Convento Interior Decorative Painting

Teposcolula, Convento Interior Decorative Painting

                                                

Teposcolula, Convento Interior Decorative Painting

The Saint Gertrude Chapel is located in the front of the convento and is said to have been the place where the friars were buried.  

Teposcolula, St. Gertrude Chapel

                                               

Tecpan/ Casa de la Cacica:

Built in the 1560's, this casa de la cacica, house of the indigenous nobility, is the most complete one surviving in Oaxaca and is undergoing restoration at the present time. These palaces for indigenous nobility were built on monastery grounds as a part of the evangelization process.  Typically, local nobility would be the first to convert to Christianity and their presence on monastery grounds was an encouragement for their subjects to follow suit and become Christians. 

                                   

Teposcolula, Tecpan

                                   

Teposcolula, Tecpan with Disc Frieze

The disc frieze on the tecpan is in the pre-hispanic style and what it represents has been a source of speculation; some scholars have suggested that it depicts hallucinogenic datura or morning-glory flowers.  Such flowers are found in indigenous-related artwork throughout Mexico. 

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San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula is best visited in conjunction with the monasteries of Yanhuitlan and Coixtlihuaca. Although the three share many architectural features each has a distinct personality and features.  Both Teposcolula and Yanhuitlan have undergone extensive restoration being returned to a pristine state;  Coixtlihuaca has not been restored and retains more of a feeling of authenticity.
   
                                                                                           
                                                                                     
   
                                     

East Meets West: A Greek Icon in a Mexican Church

                                             

Front Façade, San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca

                                     

San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca (decorated for a wedding)

                                             

In most respects, the church of San Antonino Obispo in San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca is typical for the area.  It is one of the "painted churches" of Oaxaca (for more information on these see blog post from Sept. 20, 2013), one of the churches re-painted by the Foundation Rudolfo Morales in a very beautiful and imaginative way.  This can be seen both in the ornamentally painted façade-

                                    

Painted Façade, San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca

                                         

as well as in the decorative painting of the church's interior-

                                       

Painted Angels, San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca

                                          

Painted Dome over Main Altar, San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca

But the church's most distinguishing feature is the very unexpected Greek Icon that has been placed in one of the side altars. It was strange and very unexpected to see a Byzantine icon in a small rural Oaxacan church.

                                           

Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Antonino Obispo, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca

                                                

This icon is that of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the name appears in Spanish (Perpetuo Socorro) on the clouds at the bottom of the icon.  Actually, knowing this image's history, it is not really so implausible to find it in a Mexican church.  The original icon, already centuries old, was enshrined in a church in Crete and in 1495 was brought from there to Rome to protect it from the approaching Turks. Eventually it made its way into the hands of the Redemptorists, an order of Catholic priests, In 1865 Pope Pius IX ordered the Redemptorists to make the icon known to the world and commissioned 2300 copies made and distributed around the world.  

The Redemptorist order has been active in South American as well as in parts of Mexico and this icon reflects their influence there.  The San Antonino icon was copied by a Latin American, probably Mexican, artist and reflects this origin in two respects.  One is the Spanish writing (Perpetuo Socorro) and the other is the clouds on which both the angels and Virgin Mary rest, Clouds are a convention in Mexican religious painting, representing the heavenly domain which resides in the sky. Both figures also wear crowns, which is not always the case with Byzantine icons. By order of the Vatican on May 12, 1867, the icon was crowned in a solemn mass, with jewel encrusted and blessed crowns, one each, being put on the head of the Virgin and Infant Jesus.

It would be interesting to know how this icon is understood in this church and used in worship.  Real Byzantine icons are not considered paintings, but actual openings to 
Heaven. Both the artist and his or her materials are blest and the icon is "written" not painted. The image is believed to contain the spiritual essence of what is represented.  In this understanding the icon is not just an image of Mary; in some way it is Mary herself.  
In truth, this is very close to the way that images are understood within Mexican Catholicism. Throughout the Latin American Catholic world, beloved and revered statues and processional images are at the heart of devotion and worship.  Although Icons are two-dimensional, there is an inherent capacity to understand them built into in the Mexican church.  

Many thanks to the gifted New Orleans-based iconographer Raymond Calvert for his insight into this icon, as well as providing research links.


            

Sacred Saturates Profane: Holy Wednesday in Masaya Nicaragua

Holy Week in Latin American countries is a time when the sacred and profane intermingle in daily life to an extent rarely seen elsewhere.  These photos from Holy Wednesday in Nicaragua's Masaya region, lying just outside the beautiful colonial-era city of Granada,embody this intermingling.  In them, you will see a group of men carrying a figure of Jesus from one town to another either to or from one of the many religious processions of Holy Week.

Moving a Processional Statue, Holy Wednesday, Masaya Nicaragua

                                    

                                   

Group transporting processional figure resting along road, Holy Wednesday Masaya Nicaragua

                                                 

Processional Figure of Jesus along road, Holy Wednesday, Masaya Nicaragua

                                                     

                                           

Group transporting Processional Figure of Jesus, Holy Wednesday, Masaya  Nicaragua

                                               
Although this was an exotic spectacle to an outsider, for these Nicaraguan believers this was just business as usual.  A figure needed to be moved, so they moved. Above all, what these photos show is the extent to which these religious images are a part of the daily lives of those who believe in them.  A recent post of this blog (May 13, 2016: Person or Statue: The Complex Religious Images of Latin America) discussed this theme.  Please note that the image of Jesus in the photos above is not the same image as in the May blog post.