Guatemala's Folk Saints: Maximon/San Simon, Rey Pascual, Judas, Lucifer and Others - Hardcover

Jim Pieper

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826329950 ISBN 13: 9780826329950

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2002

Synopsis

This is a rich melange of observation, interviews, and photographs that combine to give a vivid and intimate portrait of this particular variety of Christianity. Including extensive information on altars, prayers, and the pantheon of the saints themselves, the book focuses on an entity known both as Maximon and San Simon, a spiritual representative to whom any kind of request can be made. Although petitioners are usually encouraged to pray only for 'good causes', San Simon can also be enlisted to get rid of evil spells or even to cast one. San Simon may be a bundle of woven textile topped with a hat or a life-size figure with his face hidden behind a mask and designer sunglasses. He may wear cowboy boots or be covered in petitioners' offerings of silk scarves. Clouded in incense and addressed in indigenous dialects, he is Mayan. Addressed in Spanish, his Christian veneer becomes clear. Other chapters address Rey Pascual (a skeletal deity), the Ajitz Judas, Lucifer, Don Diego, and San Gregorio. The book includes a glossary and bibliography. This unique documentation of modern Mayan culture will be of interest to scholars, collectors, and travellers.

About this title

Review:

"This book is richly illustrated, well written, and amazingly didactic, and is recommended to scholar and general reader alike."

"The book beckons one to see, ponder, perhaps to experience, mysteries which have been part of human kind since time immemorial."

About the Author:

Jim Pieper

About this edition

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0826329950
• ISBN 13: 9780826329950
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 244