[Gocamino] pilgrimage in Latin America?

[Kathy & Phil Dahl-Bredine]

Hi Mary,

Very interesting.  Here where we live in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, Santiago
is very popular as a patron saint for villages and towns.  In the Mixteco
indigenous area where we work, northwest of Oaxaca City, there's a village
called Santiago Tilantongo.  (Each town has its saint's name along with
its ancient indigenous name).  In the church is a very large statue of St.
James on his horse, as you described.  My husband was walking out there one
day and met two local women who recounted this old legend about that statue.
Here is the story they told:   "They say that the Spaniards stole the gold
crown of the king of Tilantongo a long time ago, and being a somewhat
stubborn people, we sent a delegation of Mixtec people to Spain to look for
the crown.  The Mixtecs looked all over Spain but couldn't find it.  But, as
they were preparing to leave to return to Tilantongo, they went into a
church, and there they saw a beautiful statue of Santiago.  So they stole
the statue in exchange for the crown, and so Tilantongo is now Santiago
Tilantongo, and the statue remains in the local Church of Santiago.

They say that every year on the eve of the feast of St. James, he (the 
statue) gets lonely for his homeland, so he goes back to Spain for a visit. 
A sextant told one time how on the night before the big village fiesta of 
Santiago was to happen, he heard the sound of hoofbeats in the church.  So 
he ran in and found that the statue was missing.  He was so upset that he 
didn't dare tell anyone they weren't going to have the statue for the fiesta 
in the morning.  Then just before dawn he heard the hoofbeats again.  Once 
more he ran into the church, and there was the statue in its proper place!"

Another example of how far the popularity and legends of Santiago have 
spread!

Kathy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mary V. Wallis" <mvwallis at pathcom.ca>
To: "Kathy & Phil Dahl-Bredine" <kpdb at prodigy.net.mx>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] pilgrimage in Latin America?


> HI Kathy - I was in Bolivia a few years ago and happened to visit a local 
> shaman -type guy who threw coco leaves to predict the future. He had a 
> statue of St. James on his horse in his little cave where we met. 
> Apparently he was "transmuted" by the natives into a god of thunder during 
> the Conquest of the New World. Also, in Ushuaia, way down at the bottom of 
> Argentina, there is a crucero like you see in Galicia dedicated to St. 
> James .... from the 1990's.
>
> I would also be interested in exploring St. James' pilgrimages in South 
> America, but have yet to find any other clues than those. I wonder if he 
> is woven into other kinds of pilgrimages in some perhaps obscure way, like 
> the Inca Trail maybe? no idea.
>
> let me know if you come up with anything else.
>
> Mary Walli
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kathy & Phil Dahl-Bredine" <kpdb at prodigy.net.mx>
> To: <GoCamino at oakapple.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:34 PM
> Subject: [Gocamino] pilgrimage in Latin America?
>
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Does anyone know of any pilgrimage in Latin America similar to the Camino 
>> de
>> Santiago -- that is, where one can actually walk and there might be 
>> hostels
>> or albergues?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kathy
>>
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>
>