[Gocamino] pilgrimage in Latin America?

[Mary V. Wallis]

wow - what a great couple of stories about St. James. thanks! I am thinking 
of presenting something about James in the New World at the Gathering in 
Santa Barbara in March 2008 - if I do get going on it, I'll be in touch with 
you so I can include your story and give credit where it's due. Or if you or 
Phil wanted to, or anybody else out there...... I am on the APOC Board and 
also on the planning committee for the 2008 Gathering and would welcome any 
presentation offers!  I don't have to give the talk, I just think it wd be a 
great topic, given that Santa Barbara is in the heartland of the old Spanish 
Missions to the New World.

In the meantime, if anything else comes up about James in Mexico or anywhere 
else in the "new world", let me know.

thanks again!

Mary
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathy & Phil Dahl-Bredine" <kpdb at prodigy.net.mx>
To: "Mary V. Wallis" <mvwallis at pathcom.ca>; <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] pilgrimage in Latin America?


> 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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>>> Gocamino at oakapple.net
>>> http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/gocamino
>>>
>>
>>
>