Oración al Ajo Macho

Above: a candle to el Ajo Macho

According to the Tejana Pundit:

I’ve always known that older family members have carried a clove of garlic in their purse or pant pocket. Now that dad is in hospice and we spend alot of time talking, he passed on the meaning of this thing called Ajo Macho (garlic). According to dad, Ajo Macho is believed to be the garlic that was planted on Mount Calvary after the crucifixtion. Thereafter, it became known as “holy garlic”. For generations, many take a piece of the garlic, dip it in holy water, let it dry and wrap in tape or back then a small white piece of cloth and place it in each corner of a room, thereby protecting the dwellers from evil.

It has also been known to be carried in your coin purse or wallet to help with business and finances. Below is the prayer that is to be said when blessing the garlic. I researched this prayer I found in my father’s bible to see if there was an english version, but no dice.

Milagroso ajo, que fuiste puesto en el Monte Calvario donde Jesús murió para darte eterna luz y librarnos de todo mal. Líbrame de cárceles y demonios, cuando mis enemigos intenten matarme o herirme; que sus ojos no me vean, que sus pies no me alcancen, que sus manos no me agarren, que las armas de fuego no disparen, que los cuchillos se desvíen y que el mal no me persiga. Milagroso Ajo de la bondad, retírame envidias, apártame de los enemigos, ayúdame en mi trabajo o negocio, asegúrame del cariño de los que me rodean, así sea, así sea, así será, Amen.

Well, here is the my translation:

Miraculous Garlic put on Mount Calvary where Jesus died to give you eternal light and free us from all evil. Free me from prisons and demons, when my enemies seek to kill or hurt me, may their eyes not see me, may their feet not overtake me, may their hands not grab me, may their guns not fire at me, may their knives miss me and may evil not pursue me. Miraculous Garlic of goodness, take away envies, keep away my enemies, help me at work or in my business. Shield me with the care of those who surround me. So be it, and may it always be.

“I Am Nobody to Break a Vow Made to God”

MEXICANS DO MANDAS AS A SIGN OF THANKFULNESS
By Bob McPhail

Three young men in their early teens are walking toward a bus stop in downtown Tijuana. Despite the mid-afternoon sun, each of them is dressed in a monk’s habit fashioned from heavy, brown cloth. But they are too young to be monks, and their demeanor is that of school kids on their way home.

“Oh,” says a priest when asked about what these boys might be up to, “they are probably doing a manda.” Las Mandas are a tradition of Mexican piety dating back to the Spanish Conquest, according to Father Jorge Echegoyen, a diocesan priest in Tijuana. “Mandas are a traditional belief in Mexico that are a mixture between faith and superstition. People in Mexico, especially in the south, have rituals and rites that are both pagan and Christian. Among these are mandas. They come from a view of the world that we are always sinners and we need to sacrifice. We need to be reminded how far away we are from the holy.”

Es la sombra del agua

Es la sombra del agua
y el eco de un suspiro,
rastro de una mirada,
memoria de una ausencia,
desnudo de mujer detrás de un vidrio.

Está encerrada, muerta -dedo
del corazón, ella es tu anillo-,
distante del misterio,
fácil como un niño.

Gotas de luz llenaron
ojos vacíos,
y un cuerpo de hojas y alas
se fue al rocío.

Tómala con los ojos,
llénala ahora, amor mío.
Es tuya como de nadie
tuya como el suicidio.

Piedras que hundí en el aire,
maderas que ahogué en el río,
ved mi corazón flotando
sobre su cuerpo sencillo.

-Jaime Sabines

It is the shadow of water,
and the echo of a sigh,
the remnant of a gaze,
memory of an absence,
a nakedness of a woman behind a glass.

She is enclosed, dead, finger
of the heart, she is your ring,
far from the mystery,
simple as a child.

Drops of light filled
empty eyes,
and a body of leaves and wings
went to the dew.

Drink her with the eyes,
fill her now, my love.
She is yours as if she’s no one’s,
yours like a suicide.

Rocks that I buried in the air,
trunks that I drowned in the river,
see my heart floating
over her simple body.

La nueva narco-religión

In Culiacan, Sinaloa/ they land with much urgency/ A special operation with maximum power / in the compound of the DEA/ at the in the center of intelligence

They brought in a lieutenant and performed surgery on him/ He ended up looking just like Malverde / anyone would be fooled / Presidential secrets / That’s how the CIA works

A very astute man / he was the best police / and he visited the narcotraffickers just how he looked / They thought he was Malverde and offered up prayers to him.

The impostor asked them: Where do you move your shipments/ to protect your merchandise/ be it through Tijuana or Nogales/ And when they told him / He sent the police after them.

The dudes are astute and soon they realized what was going on / They caught that liar / at the other end of a machine gun / in the neighborhood of Las Quintas, there they evened the score.

The only thing left of the impostor/ are his remains up there on the hill / they say he doesn’t even have a tomb / the dogs gobbled him up / He wanted to pass for Malverde, but Malverde is not a game

This gory ballad is an example of the now infamous narcocorrido, but with a religious twist. The narcocorrido is a Mexican song celebrating the exploits of a drug-related outlaw or kingpin, and is a genre made famous by such popular groups as Los Tigres del Norte. In this one, faith also comes into play, as a rather strange fable is weaved of the government using the superstition of the drug traffickers to catch them in the act of illegal smuggling. The emergence of such “narcosantos” as Jesus Malverde and Santa Muerte is not an isolated incident in the popular Mexican religious consciousness, but is rather a sign of escalating violence in Mexican society, the growing importance of the drug trade, and the general decline of the rule of law.

La Santísima Muerte – A Mexican Folk Saint

A Review of E. Bryant Holman’s book, with some reflections

(image above found on one of Mr. Holman’s sites)

E. Bryant Holman is a writer for whom I have immense esteem. I have spent many an hour perusing his Curanderismo mailing list, and everything he writes is insightful, eloquent, and well thought-out. Although not really a believer himself, he approaches popular Mexican Catholicism from a respectful and unbiased perspective. At no time does he patronize or express outright skepticism regarding the practices of folk healers, witches, and ordinary faithful, and only records their beliefs and practices with very little hint of editorial judgment. In a word, he is a true scholar: always humble, always searching, and never quick to impose his own categories in areas where he is admittedly an outsider.

Lay Catholicism in Mexico as perceived by the normal believer has almost always been slightly different from the Catholicism that the hierarchy preaches. For the average believer, there have always been many Christs and many Virgins, many images of saints and many animas or holy souls, all of whom vie for the devotion and prayers of the faithful. The Sacred Heart is not the same as the Holy Infant of Atocha, who is not the same as the Holy Face. If the Virgin of Guadalupe doesn’t answer your petition, you go to the Virgin of St. John of the Lakes, and then to the Virgin of Lourdes, etc. A lot of it can seem like witchcraft at times, and while the hierarchy is often distrustful of this attitude towards Catholicism, they have had to respect its understanding of the Christian mystery. They have also had to tolerate people taking the sacramental character of Catholicism upon themselves in the form of “white magic” or curanderismo, of which I written on this blog before.

Corrido de la Muerte

“Ven, dame un beso, Pelona…”

Es muy padre este corrido.

Esto muestra que la Muerte es una figura muy personal en la conciencia mexicana.

(This shows that Death is a very personal figure in Mexican consciousness. Note: “Pelona” means “bald woman”, a title for Death in Mexican folklore.)

La sombra de San Pedro

La siguiente oración se suele usar mucho para apartar el mal. También la usan mucho los curanderos durante sus ceremonias. Encontré esta oración en este sitio:

San Pedro Nubes

Librame Pedro Divino
por tu caridad y amor;
Hoy salgo yo al camino,
gran Apóstol del Señor.
Te pido, Apóstol Sagrado,
que tan solo al invocarte,
Cuando me vea atribulado
tu siempre estés de mi parte.
En cualquier peligro grave,
en cualquier triste aflicción
Y en donde quiera que yo ande,
Pedro, allí tu protección.

Pues una meced te pido,
por tu sombra refulgente,
son muchos los enemigos
que me siguen diariamente.
De un asalto en el camino
en una hora desastrada,
Cubrenos Pedro divino,
con tu sombra tan sagrada.
Cuando yo la camino salga
y me asalte el malhechor,
Allí tu sombra me valga
en el nombre del Señor.

Tu de Dios fuiste elegido
para ser su secretario,
Apóstol Señor San Pedro,
sírveme de relicario.
En la mansión de la tierra,
En cualquier trance o peligro
De persecución o guerra
Librame, Pedro divino.
Haz que Dios goce en el Cielo,
Por ti todo bien se alcanza,
ábrame las puertas Pedro
de la bienaventuranza.

Tú seas mi custodio y guía
Por donde quiera que salga
En la noche o en el día,
Siempre tu sombra me valga.
Te pido con eficacia,
Príncipe Apóstol Sagrado,
que no pierda la gracia,
Que no muera en pecado.
Por aquel grande dolor
cuando tu arrepentimiento,
Pedro Apóstol del Señor,
Librame cada momento.

Cuando mi alma perdonada
Sea la culpa inmortal,
No me niegues tu la entrada
A la patria celestial.
Ruega al Señor por nosotros
Que te hacemos petición,
Favorece a los devotos
Que cargan tu devoción. Amén.

Oración

Santo Apóstol, Pedro Clemente,
De mi no apartes tu protección,
A ti me acojo yo reverente
Y elevo humilde esta petición.

Cubreme, sombra del mas sublime
De los pastores, tenme piedad,
Aparta siempre de mi destino
Toda miseria y enfermedad.

Quien no me quiera que huya de mí,
Las personas adversas apártalas,
Bendice, Pedro, tú mi camino
Y no me dejes nunca penar.

Real Kneeling Theology

A Los Angeles Times story about pilgrims to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. See the video as well.

I have always been skeptical of all talk of an “interior life” or faith as an abstract idea. This for me is far more familiar and far more real.

¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!

Del otro lado del portón

Some Ramón Ayala, because this is my blog after all. Que tengan un feliz Dia de Acción de Gracias, y que lo pasan muy bien con sus familias. Ciao.