God-Bearers on Pilgrimage to Tepeyac: A Scholar of Religion Encounters the Material Dimension of Marian Devotion in Mexico
2014; Brill; Volume: 18; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1163/15685292-01801009
ISSN1568-5292
Autores Tópico(s)Religious Tourism and Spaces
ResumoContemporary ritual practice at the Virgin of Guadalupe’s shrine at Tepeyac emphasizes the material dimension of the sacred in Mexico: every day, ritual actions at the shrine confer power, prestige, and potency to images, effigies, and other replicas of the Virgin. One particularly pronounced devotional practice involves the carrying of replicas of the Virgin as sacred burdens: pilgrims carry these sometimes quite cumbersome objects tied to their backs as they make their way to Tepeyac hill. Drawing on the photographic series The Road to Tepeyac (2010) by Mexican-British photographer Alinka Echeverría, among other sources, this article explores the ritual processes by which material is infused with spirit and the body of the devotee becomes fused with the body of the Virgin. The analysis is contextualized within the history of devotional practice in Mexico.
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