Oh Come Let Us Adore Him...

I'm compiling some links for this post. First off, over here is a beautiful page of Creches from All over the world. Deacon Greg over at The Deacon's Bench posted a news story about a Czech nativity set being reassembled in Dayton Ohio. I'm sort of a Czechphile-- it's kind of a long story-- which I don't need to go into now. Needless to say, I surfed around the site (link posted in the original article and here) and got lost in looking at the different Nativity sets. I find them all so incredibly fascinating.

Also at the site, there's an article about the tradition of Native American nativities in New Mexico. I've yearned to have one. When I used to go to Indian Market, I'd look longingly at the sets, but couldn't then and still can't afford one. There are pictures there and as well as in the main page of International Creches.

My mom's current nacimiento. I wish I had better picture.

My mom had an old set that her aunt bought bit by bit. I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. She's long since put it away, but perhaps I should pull it out of the box this year.

I have two nativity sets of my own. One I got last year for Christmas. It's a Spanish Colonial set, though it's a mass-produced piece by a re-known NM artist, rather than an original. I can't even fathom what it would cost to own an original Charlie Carillo. Mine is the set on the right. My other set, which I haven't put up in years, is a Costco special. I had to color the Virgin Mary's hair from blond to brown with a sharpie marker. It's generic, but the figures are pretty enough. I used dress it up with lights, cedar branches when I put it up. I'm thinking of digging it out, unless I get my mom's old one, which looks a bit like the Fontanini sets.

Hee... a google image search lead me to a Little People nativity set. And not to be outdone, but Catholic Supply of St. Louis has a variety of Nativities, from the classic, tasteful ones, to the downright awful ones. I'm easily amused you know.

Tradition has it that St. Francis put up the first creche.
I think the nativity is a probably the most visible reminder of what the season should be about. Granted, we know that's not how it actually was, but it's still a wonderful image, isn't it? The madness that has become of the Christmas season is a disgusting display of greed, selfishness and a complete and utter lack of respect toward one's fellow man, woman or child.

Belonging Without Believing

Interesting study about Jews, religion and affiliation. The study states that one can be an active member of a religion and not really believe. There are also statistics comparing Christians, broken down by types-- evangelical, mainline protestant, Catholic as well as the unaffiliated and Jewish.

I'm skimming it now but thought I'd mention it.

One of the things I found interesting is that evangelicals are more apt to believe in miracles than Catholics. The social findings are interesting. Nothing too shocking.

Watch This Space...

I have a post running around in my head, but I don't think today is the day that I really want to make a ranty, mcranty post about stuff that's bothering me. I'm not having a crisis of faith or anything like that, but I'm just angry and upset. I'm also having a hard time reconciling my beliefs. How can I love something so much and feel bitter and hurt at the same time? I'm angry but I don't know where or how to direct that anger. What I'm angry about is irrational and I'm not sure I can articulate just right. So, I'll mull it over a little bit longer and come back to this post later.

He Was A Community Organizer, You Know...

Live Journal is down. So much for the transition going smoothly. It figures when all is said and done, it goes down unexpectedly when all is supposed to be well and good. I posted this there, I think, can't see if it actually posted.

Well, Father James Martin, SJ, is one of my favorite Contemporary Catholic writers. Apparently he speculated how Jesus might do on a job interview with the Obama Transition team. It's here at belief.net. You don't even have to be Catholic or religious to enjoy the humor of it all.

My cousin actually applied for a job in the administration. She was a paid staffer for the campaign. We all got a laugh at the questionnaire. Even I couldn't answer it perfectly and I'm almost a saint. ;-)

Something I've Always Known...the First Thanksgiving Was Catholic

Spanish settlers and Native Americans celebrated the first Thanksgiving in Florida. Deacon Greg Kandra made mention of two earlier Thanksgiving Celebrations in his blog today. In his post, Is Thanksgiving a Catholic? he finds the answers to the question. Read his post to see the original article.

Of course it was and it makes complete sense that the Spanish Catholics would offer a Mass of Thanksgiving, when arriving in the New World, since Catholicism was (I still think is) a huge part of Spanish culture.

My ancestors didn't come over the Mayflower. They weren't Puritians, Pilgrims, or Protestants of any sort. They were Catholic and yes, they celebrated Thanksgiving long before the Pilgrims did.

My dad's ancestors arrived in what is New Mexico in 1598, but led by Juan de Onate, that that particular Thanksgiving was held in El Paso before they made the journey north, so, I claim ties to that one. Though, I know that the Spanish celebrated the first Thanksgiving in Florida 30 years earlier. These are things I've always known, simply because growing up in New Mexico, I was always away of Spanish, Catholic history in the New World because I had teachers who made sure we were versed in our own history. In my text books, the arrival of the Spanish in the New World covered maybe the first couple of pages and was never mentioned again. I knew because my parents made sure I knew the history and I also knew because I took classes in New Mexican history, though while I always I knew, it always seemed like no one else did.

Now, Onate is not without controversy. Still, without his daring expedition, the establishment of the first coloney here, my ancestors may have never come to New Mexico and who knows if I'd even be here. A couple of links about him here and here.

Photo: reenactment of the Onate Thanksgiving in El Paso. Taken from here.

It's In My Head

While doing some minor story research for my failing attempt to do this year's NaNoWriMo story, I stumbled upon this article from a Cuban American writer who was a Shabbos Goy back in his youth for the Jewish families in his Brooklyn neighborhood. It was a really sweet article and definitely worth a read. I don't know where I first heart about "The Shabbos Goy" if it was something I read or someone mentioned, but it was nice to read someone's personal account.

I know a lot about Judaism, but like a lot of things, I know enough to get me into trouble. For this story I'm working on my characters are half-Jewish, raised by mostly secular Jewish father and a Jewish mother by conversion who was raised Catholic and converted before she met the father. The characters are actually part of my fictional universe and are cousins to my other characters in my other stories. They're the children of the second oldest daughter on my story-family tree. I really think will turn out to be a really interesting character in the end. I'm really just fleshing them out, trying to figure out who they are and I have a loose plot brewing in my head, which will incorporate a lot of the family history that I know, but haven't written or compiled for this particular story. While I don't think religion is going to play into the story much, I do need to look up spellings and definitions of terms and words for the story. I need to make the characters as real as possible and I need to explore what life would be like growing up in their family.

Being curious by nature, I follow links everywhere around the Internet. Maybe one day I will actually stay on a website long enough to learn something. Or better yet, get off the Internet and read something!

I'm tired today... so I'll just link to this story at America's blog In All Things about the rise of Anti-Catholicism. Maybe I'm spoiled or just pretty damn lucky because growing up here and when I grew up I never experienced any anti-Catholicism. Sure, I had former Catholics try to convert me to their new found religions, but I don't recall them ever saying anything that was anti-Catholic. Maybe I'm living in my own little world where everything is sunshine and roses and I never noticed it. Nah, I don't think it existed here growing up.

Although, I do remember every fall, on the night of the Burning of Zozobra, a group of Bible believing Christians would pass out flyers saying how we were participating in a pagan ritual, that if we didn't repent or proclaim Jesus to be our Savior we'd all be doomed. There wasn't anything that was anti-Catholic about this particular protest, and there really wasn't anything particularly Catholic about burning this puppet, also known as Old Man Gloom. I mean, historically, the Catholics in Spain have burned effigies for many reasons, but I don't believe those were what inspired Will Schuster, the artist who created Zozobra, to burn this puppet. I also haven't been in years, so I don't even know if they come out and protest.

The only place where I've experienced or seen blatant Anti-Catholicism is on the Internet. It doesn't take long to find it. I usually stumble upon something anti-Catholic at least once a day. I'm also tired of seeing google ads on Catholic blogs and websites with links to the crazies at the most holy family site.

Watching Secrets of Mary Magdalene on PBS. I'm finding it to be a more scholarly retelling of the "Da Vinci Code" perhaps, it's giving the "Da Vinci Code" credence. I'm not overly impressed and I honestly don't believe in these theories of Mary Magdalene. Yes, I believe she existed, no I don't think she was the prostitute in the gospels, and she was important in Jesus' life and his ministry but I think they're reaching on just about everything else.

Ack... they actually called her Mrs. Jesus in this special. Oy.

Regarding one of my stories: Mary Magadalene, as the repenant sinner, is a quite important image for me to reference in the story.

Holy Bagels, Batman!

I will be the first to admit that Communion has been on the brain lately. The only thing is, this has nothing to do with the recent comments about who should or should not receive, it has nothing to do with the election or anything like that, but out of the weirdness that is my mind, I managed to dream that the priest had concecrated bagels instead of unleavened bread for Holy Communion. In my dream it was very clearly one of the priests from my parish. It didn't seem like it was my actual church but after dropping the "real hosts" on the floor, he managed to give out bagel slices instead. They were toasted and buttered. He also gave me a plain one and a poppy seed bagel. I got really upset as they were crispy and I kept saying this is wrong... you're going to drop Jesus everywhere, that it was unholy bread and not the Body of Christ at all. He seemed truly unconcerned. Sitting next to him was one of the sisters who works in the parish. They were sitting behind a table like it was a bake sale. They had the chalice sitting between them and handed it out really irreverently, like it was fruit punch or kool-aid. It was totally bizarre.

I do recall thinking or saying in the dream that Jesus tasted good and that left me with a very discomforting feeling. I shudder as I write this. I remember when I was a kid we were told by the nuns in Catechism class not to even chew on the host, that I can't actually imagine tasting it. ;-)

I do admit that the host that the priest holds up and breaks during the consecration tastes better than the little round ones that are kept in the tabernacle. I don't know what the difference is and I don't think the Carmelite nuns here in town bake the bread anymore.

I actually thought about emailing the priest to tell him all about this dream, but I don't think I will. As amusing as I think it might be, he might think totally differently.

Blogrolls...

A real life friend of mine wants me to recommend to her some good Catholic blogs. I am going through my blogroll here and those on my google reader to see what I think she might like. I read a whole range of Catholic blogs, maybe that's why I'm going insane. Some I like because more for the pictures that get posted than for content, some I read for just the content, I even read some conservative ones but skip the comments, unless I haven't had breakfast, ;-) . I really dislike the condescending, holier-than-thou bloggers (clergy and laity) that I've discovered.

I've given up forums for the most part. I do have to admit though, that they were quite helpful when I was doing some research for my novel, but then I stumbled upon a blog written by a young priest and he had tons and tons of great posts with historical, religious, and useful information. His blog has folded, but I did enjoy reading it while he posted. He didn't allow comments, so it made for an enjoyable read. I've found a few that I like almost as much. I think I'll probably update my blogroll to reflect my current joys and faves.

If anyone has any suggestions to add to this list, let me know.

Poor Richie...

Or I should say Ron Howard. It seems that he's been banned from filming in and at Catholic churches in and around Vatican City.

Alas, I can't even say I object to the books or movies for religious objections. I tried reading Da Vinci Code and couldn't get through it. Then I thought I'd watch the movie. I actually turned it off. It dragged and bored me endlessly. I guess I probably won't be seeing Angels and Demons when it comes out, espeically since I won't get to see some of the beautiful footage in Catholic churches. ;-)

I'm still snarky, pissy and moody tonight.

Well, It's Started

So today, I heard my first Christmas Song on the radio today. It was Mariah Carey's, "All I Want For Christmas Is You." I'm not a Mariah Carey fan at all, but I do admit that I really do enjoy this song.

I'm also feeling quite eager and hopeful for Christmas this year. I think I will put up my tree early this year. Last year it was a struggle to get it up and then to get it taken down. I really don't know why I feel so Christmasy right now. I have no money and bills to pay. The economy is bad. My parents are worried about money and the tenant renting our income generating property is struggling in this economy. I really worry that he will walk away leaving us in the lurch. I suppose I should pray for help, but sometimes, I hate praying for such "self-serving" things.

My love life is non-existent again this year, yet I'm used to that. I'm also pretty sure I can survive New Years.

But I have other things. I have good friends, my family-- despite being my family sometimes-- is happy, healthy and well. I'm doing okay in general and I'm fortunate that I have a home and people who love me. I have my faith, albeit, it's a bit shaky right now, but I do believe and I do want to grow stronger spiritually and truly understand what it all means to me.

While I know I'm blessed, I still think about what I don't have and wish otherwise. That's simply human nature. Hopefully one day, I'll find some of my prayers answered in a way that I'd like, but if they aren't, I'd like to be able to say that I can accept things as they will be. Acceptance is the hardest thing. Isn't it the last stage of grieving?

Old Religious Imagry.

I'm on a slight genealogy kick. I haven't gone all that far back on my family tree, but being that my ancestors first arrived in New Mexico 400 years ago (give or take) and have been here continuously since returning after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, and seeing as how they've always been Catholic, I just might be able to connect the dots and trace my family back. It would sure be nice to know the whole story, instead of just repeating the family rumors. Also, I've rediscovered La Herencia magazine. It's listed in the links section on my sidebar. Unfortunately most of the content from the issues is not on the web and I hadn't seen the magazine in bookstores in quite a while. It became subscription only so I didn't encounter it much. I saw the summer issue and hoped to find some pictures online somewhere. I checked the Palace of the Governors where I saw some old photos a while back and sure enough many of the photos used in the magazine were there, plus a lot more.

This is a 1948 image of La Conquistadora.

I also found an old image of a Procession of La Conquistadora. and here a page of pictures with many religious processions through the years. I wish the fees for usage weren't so expensive because I'd love to have copies of all these old pictures. At least there are archived and uploaded to the Internet for public viewing. This is an archive page of other religious pictures.

My mom used to talked about the traditions for Corpus Christi. There are images of that here, but she also would mention that they'd stop by all the churches in town and people would set up altars along the way. Here's one image of an altar and here is another which is really lovely. So while that photo was in the 1800's the tradition of setting up altars must have continued through the 30's and 40's while my mother was growing up. It's sad that we've lost that.

Beauty in a Time of Devastation

This photo is going around the Blogosphere. Here are the details and photo credit.

A statue of the Virgin Mary is seen among the rubble of burned out mobile homes at the Oakridge mobile home park in Sylmar, California, on November 18, 2008. The fire near the suburb of Sylmar devastated nearly 500 properties in the Oakridge mobile home park and has burned around 10,000 acres. By Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty.

I'm Blogged Out.

I have a half-finished post in draft mode, but I'm too tired to finish it now. I have a few thoughts on the post-election mood of the nation, but quite frankly I'm tired of talking about the election. Also on my not-so-finished blogging agenda are some ramblings about my worries for the next year, a brief mention about my family and other real life things, but right now the only thing I can do is read Clerical Whispers. The Irish priest who blogs there really does a good job informing the rest of us in the blogsophere of the Catholic and not-so-much Catholic news. It's almost scandalous to waste so much time reading his entries. ;-)

I really need to get back to setting aside time for prayer. I really was finding that I was starting to feel a bit more spiritually grounded when I was praying regularly and now... I think I've just fallen into a drought. I have my prayer book close by, I have my rosary by the bed and at any time during the day I can certainly sit quietly and say a few impromptu prayers, but I just can't make myself do it. It's probably not a mattering of making one's self do it. Honestly, I wish I knew.

I still plan to make some sort of a New Year's Resolution when the new liturgical year starts. I'd like to focus on both my spiritual and physical well-being. I would like to spend a little bit of time growing spiritually through prayer, reading and studying more about the Church and I need to exercise more regularly. I believe that both those activities will lessen the stress of real life a bit.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in just over a week. Christmas Tree lots are gearing up for the Christmas season. With our unseasonably warm temperatures, I am glad that I have a fake tree because I think the cut trees, which have probably been cut for weeks now, will dry out quickly on the lots long before they get taken home.


*image I spotted ages and ages ago while looking up something on Day of the Dead or something related to Mexican or Chicano literature or culture. I don't recall the artist, otherwise I'd credit. And I photoshopped it just a bit to change the text on the computer screen. But... it illustrates just how wiped out I feel.