a day trip to the famous church of atotonilco. this church was the cradle of the mexican revolution, and the inside is covered with murals and finely carved santos. several of the santos (saints) are dressed in real clothing that is changed during each church season. at various times in mexcican history, this church has been the target of political upheaval. according to our tour guide, priests from this church were targeted by anti-catholic leaders for execution. in addition to its catholic traditions, the church has synretized (sp?) indigenous traditions and culture, and it is common to see a melding of the two during ceremonies. perhaps one of the most fascinating stories to me from the church involves a santo statue. in one of the chapels, there are statues of the 12 apostles. st. peter is conspicously absent. appartently, at one time, when the church was being attacked by anti-catholic leaders, the priest and the statue of saint peter were taken outside and executed. my first thought was, why st. peter? and why execute a statue? it haunted me all day. and what i came to realize was that first, st. peter is the founder of the institution of the church. you know...the cornerstone. the key. destroy him, and you have destroyed the church foundation. it's symbolic. and we do place a lot of value in symbolism. so if you want to win a war, attack people. if you want to take out a culture, destroy art and symbols. think if feeling of the twin towers falling. or the toppling of the lenin sculpture. sometimes these moments are more important than major battles. it's all about psychology.
speaking of that, another interesting thing we learned is that many indigenous cultures have stopped teaching their grandchildren their languages. they believe that their cultures have reached their practical end, and they do not want the language to be adapted and exist in this world. i don't know what to think of that. on the one hand, it is a noble decision to willfully end your culture and to refuse to have it be adapted as a commodity to be sold on the market...to prevent it from becoming a tourist show. on the other, culture is fluid. i'm sure their generation is very different from one a hundred years ago. so is it right to stop that change? it's an interesting debate. and one that certainly makes me think about how we are impacting the future of many cultures throughout the world.
after all of this heavy thinking, a trip to the hot springs was in order. we ate some lunch (all i could eat were french fries and hot sauce...which isn't too bad, but not totally satisfying), then a swim in the hot springs. pretty relaxing, if not a bit too hot for me at times.
that night, i spent the evening home working on my school work while everyone else went out to see some jazz. i didn't mind. the alone time was much needed, and i did get a lot done.
will i ever finish this blog?
