Et cetcras Neighborhood saints
NEIGHBORHOOD SAINTS After four years of absence, the saints have returned to El Museo del Barrio on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The musem has opened a new, permanent exhibition of forty-five...
...Collectors have cornered the market since the 1950s...
...Most will not even know the saints' stories, let alone pray for the intercession of this one or that...
...They were once tightly woven into Puerto Rican daily life...
...The musem has opened a new, permanent exhibition of forty-five santos, hand-sized, hand-carved devotional figures once fixtures in Puerto Rican households...
...For some museum goers, the santos will seem like holdovers of another age-interesting, but only artistically or anthropologically...
...Even the saints need a fresh coat of paint from time to time...
...Among other personages, Saint Anthony, the Virgin of Montserrat, and the Three Kings make multiple appearances in diverse guises, conditions, and forms...
...devotees worked to maintain a relationship with a saint by doing him or her services like furnishing frequent coats of paint, flowers, and fresh water, and seeing that worn-out figures were properly buried...
...But the figures themselves have both charm and an intriguing power...
Vol. 124 • January 1997 • No. 2
